Apples
by lunajo123
Summary: Estranged from her daughter and newly engaged to Luke how will Lorelai deal with an unexpected reality? The apple in Season 5 wasn't a fluke. JavaJunkie. With Literati eventually.
1. Two weeks

**Takes place after the first episode of the sixth season but before the second.**

**I know I have two other stories going on but I can work on all three at once.**

* * *

Two weeks.

Two weeks may not seem not like a huge amount of time in the grand scheme of things. Two weeks is fourteen days. Two weeks is three hundred and thirty six hours. Two weeks is twenty thousand one hundred and sixty minutes.

For Lorelai Gilmore those two weeks in between finding out that she may be pregnant because of all the sudden she was craving an apple and actually being able to find out if she was pregnant seemed to tick on by slowly. But at the same time they passed by in a flurry of activity.

It all started with Rory. It was a typical Friday Night dinner except for the small fact that Rory wasn't there. Which wasn't highly unusual the Gilmore that had gathered just assumed she was late. That was until Lorelai received an ominous phone call from Rory that she needed to picked up. Picked up from a police station in fact. Apparently instead of attending Friday Night dinner Rory stole a yacht with the help of her boyfriend Logan. And she was arrested for stealing said yacht.

But for Lorelai the real kicker came when Rory announced that she was taking a year off from Yale. This was her Rory, who worked so hard for everything, who was supposed to have so much more than she had, deciding to drop out of Yale. So Lorelai did something that she thought would work. She decided to go to her parents for help. They agreed at first willing to do anything to not get Rory to drop out of Yale. But in the end, they turned against Lorelai and offered to help Rory by letting her live in their pool-house while she was taking time off from Yale. She would have to get a job.

Lorelai went back to Stars Hollow after dinner that night devastated. Her parents basically stabbed her in the back, she was worried that Rory was screwing up her life and in the midst of all of that she was still worried that she might be pregnant. Luke still had no idea. The only person that had an idea was Rory and she was currently on the outs with her. Once she told Luke what happened, Luke was supportive and willing to do anything to help out Rory. Seeing Luke acting this way towards Rory made Lorelai propose. She surprised Luke and herself a little but she still meant the proposal. Luke quickly said yes and then they were suddenly an engaged couple.

However the proposal didn't lead to Lorelai telling Luke that she may be pregnant. When they wanted to celebrate, she slyly suggested they just celebrate with whatever Luke had. But Luke didn't have anything that they wanted to celebrate with so they went shopping where she ended up somehow buying apple juice which was just another glaring sign that she might be pregnant. However she did feel better about the maybe baby that night while lying in bed with Luke and they discussed how he bought the Twickham house then lost it but ended up saying they could get it back if he tried because they might want kids and he was okay with them having kids. And suddenly so was Lorelai.

In that time, Rory also had her court date which she was assigned community service, Lorelai told her parents she was through with them since they didn't help her like she wanted, and Lorelai was given an engagement ring from Luke.

* * *

All of this activity in two weeks led her to where she was now, which was in the middle of the Hartford drug store standing in front of the pregnancy tests aisle. She was praying that she would not run into Rory or her mother while she was in the store so she was trying to hurry and decide which tests to buy but there were just too many options. There were way more options than she had at sixteen.

Out of fear that she might run into someone she knew, Lorelai grabbed three different boxes of tests and headed towards the front counter. She smiled politely at the bubble gum popping teen behind the counter and she dug through her purse for money. At the last minute Lorelai threw a chocolate bar and the new People magazine up on the counter just so the pregnancy tests wouldn't be the only thing that she bought.

"That will be $34.27," the teenager whose name tag read Katie said.

Lorelai handed over some money and waited for her to count the change. Once she was given the change back, Lorelai stuffed it into her purse, grabbed the bag with her tests, magazine, and chocolate, and headed out of the store.

Out at her jeep, Lorelai dropped the drugstore bag into the passenger seat and began her drive back to Stars Hollow. She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as she drove. She wanted someone there for her when she did the tests and got the results but there was the small fact that no one knew besides Rory and they still weren't talking. If she really was pregnant, she wanted to be sure before she told Luke and potentially freaked him out even though he was the one that brought up kids in the first place.

Soon Lorelai found herself pulling up in front of Sookie's house. Maybe she could drop the bomb on Sookie and have Sookie help support her. Besides Lorelai was there both times that Sookie discovered she was pregnant. Lorelai decided that she would drop in with the intention of seeing Sookie's new baby Martha, since she had not seen her since she was born, and then maybe tell Sookie that she might be pregnant. She quickly stuffed the drugstore bag into her purse, got out of the Jeep, and headed towards Sookie's front door.

Lorelai giggled at the note on the front door threatening anyone who would dare knock while the baby was sleeping. She quietly pushed open the door and headed inside; she tip-toed through the front door and headed to the living room where Sookie was sitting back on the couch cradling Martha in her arms.

"Hi," Lorelai whispered as she sat down beside Sookie. She placed her purse down on the floor.

"What are you doing here?" Sookie asked. "Did I know you were coming over? Things have been crazy since she was born. I don't even know what day it is, what day is it?"

"It's Saturday Sookie," Lorelai replied, "And no you didn't know I was coming over. I decided to drop by and visit. I wanted to see how you were doing and how baby here was doing."

"We're good, tired but good," Sookie replied. "Right now she's a little better than Davey was when he was born but still trying to raise two little ones is tiring."

Lorelai nodded thinking that she might be in the very position soon. Well in this position but with one kid. "Speaking of Davey where is he?"

"Jackson took him to the park just to get him out of the house for a little while so Martha could sleep," Sookie replied. "But she doesn't look like she wants to go to sleep."

Lorelai held out her arms towards Sookie, "May I?"

Sookie nodded, "Oh yeah go ahead."

Lorelai picked Martha up from Sookie's arms and smiled at her, "Hey there sweetie," she cooed. She leaned back against the couch and snuggled Martha closer to her. "She's beautiful Sookie."

Sookie leaned over and smiled at Martha in Lorelai's arms, "I know. She's got some very powerful lungs as well."

"I bet," Lorelai replied. She bounced Martha gently in her arms.

"Things any better with Rory?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai shook her head, "Nope."

"Have you tried to talk to her?" Sookie inquired.

"Nope."

"Lorelai…"

Lorelai sighed, "It's like I told Luke. I went through a teenage pregnancy and dropping out of high school when I could no longer go. But I found my way out of it. I came here, I got a job, I found a place for Rory and I to live, and I got my GED. Since then I have been building myself up. Rory's my daughter, she's not going to listen to anyone like I wouldn't have listened to anyone."

"Yeah, but…"

"This is just what Rory has to go through," Lorelai continued. She kept gently rocking Martha to sleep while she talked, "She has to find her own way through this. She wants to be on her own? Then fine she is on her own."

"Tough love," Sookie replied.

"That's right, tough love," Lorelai agreed. "It's what she needs, I think."

"You're okay with doing that?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai nodded even though she felt like crying, "I'm okay with it. This is almost the exact conversation I had with Luke about this. She has to do this on her own. I tried to help at first and it didn't work. She's on her own now."

"But you and Rory have always been so close," Sookie replied.

"I know," Lorelai agreed, "But this has to happen the way it's happening. It has to be this way."

"Okay," Sookie replied. She looked down at Martha in Lorelai's arms, "Wow she's sleeping."

Lorelai looked down and smiled, "Hmm she is sleeping. How about that?"

Sookie giggled, "You're like the baby whisperer," she said as she picked Martha up from Lorelai's arms. "I'm just going to put her in her crib be right back."

Lorelai nodded and glanced down at her purse. Maybe she would bring up the topic when Sookie came back. Now as the time, Martha was sleeping, Jackson was out of the house with Davey, and the tests were just in her purse. And if she took them here, then there would be no way of Luke finding out before she would tell him.

Sookie walked back into the living room with baby monitor in hand and placed it down on the coffee table. She sat down next to Lorelai and placed her hands in her lap.

"So any new gossip?" Sookie asked.

"Well let's see Rory and I aren't talking still, Luke and I are engaged, Kirk is apparently the collector of rings in town, I might be pregnant, and Babette has a new gnome. So no really nothing new," Lorelai replied.

Sookie nodded, "Oh okay. Slows news day I guess."

"Yeah slow news day," Lorelai repeated as she waited to see if Sookie would catch on.

Sookie's eyes almost seemed to bulge out of her head, "Wait," she said suddenly, "Rewind a little bit. Did you say that you might be pregnant?" she asked looking up at Lorelai.

Lorelai closed her eyes and braced for Sookie's squeals that she knew were bound to happen once she confirmed, "Yes," she replied quietly.

Sookie clapped her hands, "Oh this is good. This is good, right?" she asked.

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. With everything with Rory right now I really haven't given myself the chance to process anything. At first I thought how Luke might bolt and run but then he started talking about having kids and how kids would be good. So I want to think that this could potentially be a great thing but then again I don't know because it's too soon. We just got engaged."

"But Luke wants kids right? That's what you said, right?"

"I think. I mean I did tell you that he bought the Twickham house for us and said he could get it back if we did want it. He thinks kids would be good and kids could be good but you know in the future," Lorelai replied, "After we're married."

Sookie nodded, "I understand. But if you both agree kids would be good then that's good. And if you are pregnant than maybe everything will be fine. How long have you been sitting on this?"

"Since Martha was born," Lorelai replied. "Remember the apple?"

"Oh the apple," Sookie said even though she was confused, "The apple told you that you were pregnant?"

"Well when I was pregnant with Rory I craved apples all the time. Then that morning I was craving an apple so naturally I freaked out. Besides a few days before that Luke and I were primordial and all road blocks were down," Lorelai replied. "So connecting those two things led me to think that I'm pregnant."

"Does Luke know?"

Lorelai shook her head quickly, "I wanted to find out for sure before I told him anything. And when I was at the hospital with you the doctor said I wouldn't know after two days but I could find out after two weeks and it's been two weeks."

"What are you waiting for then?" Sookie asked loudly. "Go buy a test find out!"

Lorelai picked up her purse, "Actually…" she trailed off for a moment. "I have some tests. I just have not taken them yet."

"Go, go take them," Sookie urged, "Use my bathroom. I'll wait with you for them."

"Are you sure you want to? You don't want me to leave now that Martha is asleep so you can get some rest too?" Lorelai asked.

Sookie stood up from the couch, "Lorelai Gilmore, soon to be Danes if you change your name, you are going to march your butt into that bathroom and take those tests now."

Lorelai stood up and saluted her friend, "Yes Ma'am," she said with a smile.

Sookie nodded once, "Now go," she said sternly.

Lorelai grabbed the bag from her purse and pulled out all the boxes of pregnancy tests. She looked at Sookie, "I wasn't sure which one to get and I wanted to be sure that I was pregnant so I got three different ones."

"Well take one of each," Sookie replied.

"Will do," Lorelai said.

Lorelai set her purse down with the magazine and chocolate still inside of it before heading down the hall and into the bathroom. In the bathroom, she opened all three boxes, took a test from each, and laid them out on the bathroom counter.

A few minutes later, Lorelai reappeared in the living room with the boxes of pregnancy tests in her hand. She placed the open boxes on the table then looked at Sookie.

"Now we wait," Lorelai said.

"How long?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai held up her hand, "Five minutes."

Sookie left the living room for a quick second and headed into the kitchen. She returned with timer in hand that had been set for five minutes.

"Now we wait," Sookie repeated Lorelai's words from earlier. "What else is in that bag?"

"I bought the tests, a People magazine, and a chocolate bar," Lorelai replied. "I don't feel like reading or eating right now though," she said.

The five minutes seemed to pass by slowly. For Lorelai it felt like an hour as she waited to check on the results of the pregnancy tests. When the timer rang, Lorelai handed the open boxes over to Sookie since she didn't want to check for herself. She hid her face behind her hands while she waited for Sookie to read the results.

"So?" Lorelai asked after a few minutes.

"There's a bun in your oven," Sookie replied. She then smiled brightly, "You're pregnant."

Lorelai was conflicted; she didn't know what to feel. This could be good but it could also not be so good. Luke said kids would be good but did he really mean it? There was no denying that she was pregnant now, all three tests confirmed it. She even checked and double checked after Sookie told her. She wanted to be thrilled but something was holding her back.

"Lorelai are you okay?" Sookie asked placing her hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah," Lorelai replied, "I just…what if Luke doesn't want this? What if this ruins everything? He said he wanted kids but what if he really doesn't want kids? What if he just said that? What if he bolts and runs?"

"Luke's not that type of guy."

"I thought he was the type of guy that didn't want kids but he told me that he did."

"So see," Sookie said, "I think this is a good thing. You need to talk to Luke. I'm sure he'll be thrilled about this."

"Really?" Lorelai asked blinking her eyes to hold back tears.

"Go talk to your soon to be husband. Tell him that you got a jumpstart on starting your family. I'm pretty sure, no I'm 100% positive that he will be thrilled about this," Sookie replied. "I know these things."

Lorelai nodded, "Okay."

"You're pregnant," Sookie said.

"Yeah," Lorelai said softly. "I'm pregnant."

"Now go talk to Luke," Sookie urged.

Lorelai packed the pregnancy tests into her purse, "I'll go talk to Luke."

"And call me after you talk to him," Sookie said.

Lorelai smiled, "I will."

"And if he's not thrilled about this, even though I know he is, then he will have to deal with me," Sookie threatened.

Lorelai laughed a genuine laugh, "I'm sure he'll be scared." She stood up from the couch and gave Sookie a small wave, "Bye, I promise to call. Just don't spread this around and definitely do not tell Jackson."

"My lips are sealed," Sookie said pretending to zip her lips as Lorelai walked away from her.

* * *

Later that night, Lorelai strolled into the diner. She walked up the counter and down on the stool putting her purse down on the stool next to her.

"Hey," Luke greeted, "I was just about to get Cesar to cover and head over to your house, what are you doing here?"

"We need to talk," Lorelai replied. She nodded her head towards the curtain, "Can we go upstairs?"

"Yeah," Luke replied, "Is everything okay? Is it Rory again?"

Lorelai shook her head, "Not about Rory," she said as she stood up from her stool. She walked towards the curtain, "We just need to talk."

Lorelai was already sitting on the couch by the time Luke entered the apartment. She motioned for him to sit down next to her. Once he sat down, she covered his hands with hers.

"Lorelai, what's going on?" Luke asked, "You're scaring me here."

"Remember the night of the magazine party?" Lorelai asked. "We both drank a little too much and then we came back here and things got, well they got primordial," she said.

Luke's eyes widened as she talked. He didn't remember either of them caring about using any type of protection that night. They just had to have one another as soon as they walked in the door.

"Lorelai," Luke sighed.

"I'm pregnant," Lorelai blurted out.

"You're pregnant?" Luke asked.

Lorelai nodded, "I took three tests. I'm pregnant. I just found out earlier today."

Luke sat there silently for a moment digesting the information Lorelai just told him.

"Luke?" Lorelai called when he didn't respond after a few minutes, "I know you take time to process things but say something. I'm freaking out here. You're the father, not that it needed clarifying, I don't know why I said that besides the fact that you're quiet and I'm freaking out."

"I'm going to be a dad," Luke stated as he turned to face Lorelai. He had the hint of a smile on his face. "I'm going to be a dad," he repeated.

"You're going to be a dad," Lorelai replied. "We're going to be parents. We're having a baby. Are you okay with this?" she checked.

"This is great," Luke said now beaming as he stood up from the couch.

"Really?" Lorelai asked.

"Really," Luke confirmed. He pulled Lorelai into a standing position, "I thought we both agreed that kids would be good, are you okay with this?"

"We did," Lorelai replied, "But we just got engaged, I thought it was too early."

"Well not the traditional way of doing things but this is great," Luke said, "Really it's great. I'm happy."

Lorelai nodded, her rift with Rory temporarily forgotten as she basked in the news that Luke was absolutely thrilled over her pregnancy, "Me too."

Luke placed a hand on Lorelai's belly, "We're having a baby," he whispered as his thumb gently stroked her belly through her shirt.

Lorelai looked down at Luke's hand on her belly, "Yeah," she replied softly. She placed her hands on both sides of his head and pulled his heads towards her placing a tender kiss on his lips. She pulled away and smiled, "We're having a baby."

* * *

**Just the beginning, so far everything in Season Six is the same but I may change the Rory storyline just a little so she and Lorelai aren't separated as long and I may bring Jess in a little bit sooner. Luke and Lorelai will talk more coming up about this.**

**Please let me know f you're interested in me continuing.**


	2. Hiding the Coffee

**A/N: Answering questions in review.**

**To the guest that left a review and asked about April, I will bring April into the story. But not everything is going down exactly like on the show.**

**Nancy: I have officially decided that I know how long Rory will be 'out of her head" and it will not be as long as on the show, but it will still take a little while to play out.**

**Also I have decided that since I'm not really a Logan fan this will also have a Rory/Jess pairing eventually because Jess is coming back soon.**

* * *

Lorelai walked out of the kitchen and into the living room while talking on the phone, "Alright thank you," she said before clicking off the phone. She sat the phone down on the table, "Pizza should be here in a minute and don't worry because there is salad stuff in the refrigerator for you to eat with your pizza."

Luke wrapped his arm around Lorelai as she sat down, "I know there's a salad in the refrigerator I'm the one that put it there."

Lorelai crinkled up her nose, "Ugh you trying to keep all your healthy food in my refrigerator."

"Pretty soon there will be more healthy stuff in there," Luke replied. "You're going to have to start eating healthier soon."

Lorelai pretended to check the watch that she wasn't actually wearing, "And that's it, its official it took one hour."

"What are talking about?"

"It took you one hour since I told you that I was pregnant for you to start trying to regulate what I eat. You know I suspected you to crack a lot sooner than just an hour. I suspected you to say something about the coffee when we walked through the diner."

"Just wait until tomorrow morning when you want coffee," Luke replied with a smirk.

Lorelai gasped and playfully slapped at his chest, "You wouldn't!"

Luke pressed his forehead against hers, "Watch me."

Lorelai smiled and kissed him softly. "Thank you for not freaking out when I told you."

Luke's free hand fell down to her flat belly, "We both wanted this. We both agreed that kids would be good. I wanted this. There's nothing to freak out about."

"No freaking out about the jam hands?"

Luke shook his head, "No freaking out about jam hands with you."

Lorelai grinned and laid her head down on his shoulder. She cuddled closer to him as she felt him place a kiss on top of her head. Lorelai picked up the remote and started flipping through the channels while they waited on the pizza.

"Lorelai?" Luke called.

Lorelai titled her head up to look at Luke, "Yeah?"

"How long have you known?" Luke asked, "I know you said you found out today but you had to know before that, how long before today did you know that you might be pregnant?"

"Two weeks," Lorelai answered quietly.

"What?" Luke asked.

"Two weeks," Lorelai replied louder. "I realized the morning after the magazine party that we had not been careful the night before then when I went to the hospital with Sookie I was eating an apple. So I freaked out because I was eating an apple and the only time I really remember wanting an apple like that was when I was pregnant with Rory. So I freaked out. The doctor said I couldn't tell after two days so I would have to wait two weeks to tell."

"So you thought you were when you proposed?" Luke asked.

"Yeah…" Lorelai trailed off unsure of where Luke was going until a thought crossed her mind. "But that's not why I proposed. You don't think that's why I asked you is it?" she asked pushing away from Luke. "Because it's not."

"No, that's not what I thought Lorelai. I just wanted to know how long you thought about this. Why didn't you say anything sooner?"

"Have you not been here these past two weeks? I had a lot more to deal with than this. This was pushed to the back of my mind and I just allowed myself to think about it."

"I understand. I was just curious. Does Rory know?" Luke asked. He wasn't sure if he should ask since they were currently estranged but he figured if she had been freaking out for two weeks about it then she told Rory at some point. They were always that close.

Lorelai was saved by the bell, doorbell that is. She didn't answer Luke as she got up from the couch to meet the pizza guy. The few moments of joy that she felt after telling Luke she was pregnant and finding out that he was excited melted away as Luke asked about Rory. She remembered the phone call to Rory and how Rory asked to be kept informed of everything but now none of that mattered. Rory made her decision and Lorelai made hers. She was going the tough love route and if that meant that she couldn't share this news that she so desperately wanted to share with her daughter then so be it.

Her movements were hasty and erratic as she made her way into the kitchen with the pizza. She snatched the ingredients for the salad out of the refrigerator and threw them on the table next to the pizza. As she yanked the cabinet open to get plates out for their dinner she felt a hand fall upon her shoulder.

"Lorelai, I didn't mean…are you okay?" Luke asked softly.

"I'm fine."

"Lorelai," Luke stressed. He knew she wasn't fine. How could she be fine? She was going through this terrible rift with her daughter, who also happened to be her best friend. But then again this was Lorelai, who was the strongest person he knew and would hardly ever allow herself to break down in front of anyone even him.

Lorelai plastered on a happy face and turned around to face Luke with plates in her hand, "I'm fine Luke really," she smiled, "Now pizza?"

Luke let the issue drop, for now at least. There was no need pushing it now and just making Lorelai even more upset when they were happy just a few minutes ago.

"Yeah pizza," Luke agreed as he grabbed a plate from Lorelai.

* * *

The next morning, Lorelai headed downstairs to the sweet scent of breakfast being cooked in her kitchen. She smiled at Luke before opening the cabinet. She grabbed the coffee can down from the shelf and opened it only to find that it was empty.

"Unbelievable," Lorelai scoffed turning to face Luke. She pointed a finger at him, "You," she said narrowing her eyes.

Luke played it off and shrugged, "What?"

"Do not what me," Lorelai replied putting the coffee can down on the counter and walking towards Luke. She jabbed her finger into his chest, "You hid my coffee."

"I'm a busy man," Luke said as he plated the breakfast he made for Lorelai, "I do not have time to go around hiding your coffee. Now eat our breakfast."

"Not even a full 24 hours since I told you since I told you that I was pregnant and you're already hiding my coffee," Lorelai stated. Her hands went to her hips as she continued on, "I can't believe you. You really don't think I can survive a full nine months without coffee, do you?"

"You're not supposed to drink coffee while you're pregnant," Luke replied. "The baby we'll have two heads."

"More to love."

"I have to get to the diner," Luke said leaning in for a kiss.

Lorelai kissed him sweetly, "I'll find the coffee," she said as she pulled away.

Luke smirked, "Good luck with that."

"Oh I will find it and you will regret trying to hide it from me mister!" Lorelai called after his retreating figure. She smiled as she heard Luke laugh before he shut the front door.

Lorelai started her search for the hidden coffee only to have phone ringing interrupt her. She walked into the living room and picked up from the phone from the coffee table, clicked it on, and held it up to her ear.

"Hello," Lorelai said into the phone as she walked back into the kitchen and continued her search.

"Lorelai, it's me," Sookie replied.

"Hey Sookie," Lorelai replied as she opened a cabinet to look for coffee and came up empty handed. She pouted and began to rifle through more cabinets using her shoulder to keep the phone up to her ear.

"So how did it go?" Sookie asked, "How did Luke take the news? He was happy right?"

Lorelai leaned back against the counter abandoning her search for coffee for just a moment, "Well I went to the diner and told him that we needed to talk. Once we were upstairs, I asked him if he remembered the night of the magazine party. Then I just blurted out the fact that I'm pregnant."

"And what did he do? What did he say?"

"He didn't say anything at first. He just sat there staring off into space."

"But he's happy right? I mean he eventually said something," Sookie said.

Lorelai smiled, "Yeah he realized that he was going to be a dad and then just said how great this was. It's not the traditional way of doing things but he said it was great. I think I freaked out more than he did which was weird although I might still expect a freakout from him at some point. This is Luke after all."

"Ohh you two are going to be parents. This is so exciting. Martha and your baby are going to be best friends," Sookie said happily.

Lorelai pushed away from the counter and started her search again for coffee. She opened the freezer and frowned when she couldn't find any coffee. Still she wasn't going to give up the search so soon.

"Luke has already sprung into protective mode. He has hidden my coffee even though he claims he is too busy to hide the coffee but I know he did. I'm determined to find it."

"Well hopefully he doesn't end up like Jackson and try to hide all the knives in the house," Sookie replied. "I'm a chef, I need knives."

Lorelai laughed as she bent down to look in the cabinets under the sink, "Well since I don't cook, I don't use knives. Luke does so he cannot hide those," she said. "Aha!"

"What was that? Why did you yell?" Sookie questioned. "Are you being attacked?"

Lorelai held the bag out in front of herself triumphantly, "Because I found the coffee that he tried to hide. He was clever but not clever enough," she placed the bag down on the counter and began to go about making her coffee.

"Where was it?"

"Under the sink like I wouldn't look there," Lorelai scoffed. She pressed the on button on the coffee machine and began to pick at the breakfast that Luke made for her while the coffee brewed.

"So is Luke moving into your house?" Sookie asked.

"What?"

"Is Luke moving into your house? I mean you guys are engaged now, you guys are still engaged right?"

"Of course we're still engaged Sookie just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean we would change the engagement. We're engaged. We're engaged and we're getting married."

"So you're engaged you were going to move in together at some point, does this mean it's going to happen sooner since you're pregnant?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai stopped her actions and considered Sookie's question. It was just common knowledge that when a couple gets engaged they move in together. Some move in during the engagement, some live together before the engagement, or some even wait until they're married to move in. She and Luke hadn't talked about it. They hadn't even talked about beginning to plan the wedding which wasn't that unusual seeing that they had not been engaged for that long.

"I don't know," Lorelai honestly replied. "We haven't really talked about it. I mean I just assumed that Luke would move in here. But then there's that whole thing with the Twickham house. He could get that back if we wanted it," she said as she poured herself a cup of coffee then seated herself at the table with her breakfast plate and coffee cup.

"Oh the Twickham house," Sookie said, "Do you want to move there?"

"I don't know," Lorelai replied, "It's big."

"That's what she said."

"Good one."

"I meant the house. It's very big," Lorelai clarified.

"Very sweet of Luke to have that dream of his. You two living in this house!" Sookie said, "And you have a new addition coming along soon that could have its choice of any room."

"I know. We would definitely have plenty of room, I could have a sewing room. I just…this is my house, this is Rory's house," Lorelai said. She cast a sad glance towards Rory's closed bedroom door. "It's not like I don't like the Twickham house because it's beautiful, but this is my house."

"Well you and Luke still have some time, you can plan everything out," Sookie said. Lorelai could hear a baby crying on Sookie's end of the phone. "Looks like Martha is awake, I have to go. I'm so excited for you and Luke!"

"Thanks Sookie," Lorelai said before she clicked the phone off. She place the phone down on the table and she continued to eat her breakfast. She sipped at the coffee victoriously grateful for the fact Luke hadn't thrown it away just hid it.

After breakfast, Lorelai picked up the phone once again. She walked to the small table in the hallway and began rooting around in the desk for her doctor's number. She found the small slip of paper after a few minutes and quickly dialed the number setting up her first doctor's appointment for the pregnancy.

* * *

That afternoon, since it was a nice day out, Lorelai decided to walk through the town. Her stroll through town found her standing in front of the Twickham house just staring up at it. She noticed the front door was open and figured that it wouldn't hurt to take another peek inside. This time without all the museum displays in there so she could get a true feel for the place.

Lorelai pushed open the door to the Twickham house and made her way inside. She stopped when she noticed a figure standing in what she assumed would be the living room if anyone were to live here. The backwards baseball cap and flannel shirt gave the figure away.

Luke turned around when he heard someone walking up behind him, "What are you doing here?" he asked as Lorelai approached him.

"I thought I would stop by and look at the place," Lorelai replied. She wrapped her arm around Luke. "So you really saw us living here?"

Luke nodded and wrapped his arm around Lorelai, "I did. I always loved this house when I was growing up."

"It's a beautiful house," Lorelai said as she looked around.

"Yeah," Luke agreed. "I thought this would be a nice place, we would have plenty of room. We'll need the extra room now, especially now."

"Oh which reminds me, I called the doctor's today and made an appointment. Although since it's still very early on, they didn't schedule me in until a few weeks from now," Lorelai looked up at Luke, "You don't have to go if you don't want to. I know how you are about doctors and hospitals. I can just go by myself it's completely fine. I can just fill you in on everything when I come back….."

Luke interrupted her rambling, "I'll be there."

"You what?"

"I'll be there," Luke repeated. "We're doing this together, I want to be there for all of it. I will go with you, just let me know when it is so I can have Cesar cover the diner."

Lorelai smiled, she was relieved. She did say that Luke didn't have to come but she really did want him to come. She had been through this once before with Rory and Christopher wasn't there for anything so the fact that Luke was so willing to be there for here really did thrill her.

"You really want to be there?" Lorelai asked.

Luke nodded, "I really do, for all of it. I will be there for you."

Lorelai leaned her head on Luke's shoulder, "Okay. By the way I found the coffee this morning. You're not as clever as you think you are."

"Coffee is not good for you when you're pregnant," Luke replied.

"But I need my coffee."

"I can just find somewhere else to hide it."

Lorelai smiled, "You forgot I have the super sleuth nose, I will find my coffee wherever you try to hide it."

"We'll see about that," Luke replied with a smirk.

Luke's arm dropped from around her waist. He reached down and intertwined their fingers, "Come here, I want to show you something."

"Oh okay," Lorelai replied as Luke began to lead her through the house.

"Where are we going?" Lorelai asked as Luke started his way up the stairs.

"I just want to show you something," Luke replied.

Lorelai smiled coyly, "Why Luke is this a dirty something?"

"Not dirty." Luke led her down the upstairs hallway and to a closed door.

After a few minutes of staying in front of the door, Lorelai looked to Luke, "So are you going to open the door anytime soon?"

Luke opened the door and ushered Lorelai into the room. The room was very spacious. Sunlight streamed through the window and seemed to illuminate the room. She walked around the room then turned back to face Luke who was now leaning in the doorway of the room.

"I'm confused. This is nice room but what exactly are we doing up here?" Lorelai said.

"I was thinking that this room could be the nursery," Luke explained, "It is right down the hall from the master bedroom, there's plenty of space for a crib and a dresser and whatever other furniture a baby needs. We could put a rocking chair in here if you wanted that. I just thought this would be a good room, if we still want to live here."

Lorelai watched Luke adoringly as he went on about why this room would make a great room for a nursery and he even showed her where he thought everything could go. However she still wasn't sure on the house. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she and Rory were no longer speaking. She couldn't just give up Rory's childhood home like that. But Luke was right, this would make a great room for a nursery. Plus there wasn't a whole lot of room at her house for a new addition. Especially not if she threw in the fact that Luke and a new baby were going to live there soon.

"Luke," Lorelai sighed softly, "I love that you thought of this, I really do but I don't know."

"You don't know?" Luke asked.

"I love that you can see this as our kids room, as the nursery, I love the thought that you put into this but I don't know if I want to live here. It's a beautiful house and it does have a lot more room than my house but my house is my house. It's the first big thing I did on my own, it's where Rory grew up, where I essentially grew up and I don't know if I'm fully ready to part with it yet," Lorelai replied.

"Oh…."

Lorelai walked over to Luke and placed her hands on his chest, "You did a great thing with this and you're right this would make a great nursery for our child but I just need some time before we make any plans, okay? I need to think about this."

Luke nodded, slowly beginning to understand just where she was coming from, "Okay. We'll think about it."

Lorelai nodded, "Yeah I just need time."

"Then we'll take time."

* * *

**So I haven't officially decided on the Twickham house or if they will just remodel Lorelai's house, I keep going back and forth between the two. But I will make the decision if you have a preference tell me.**

**There will be more Rory in the** **next chapter and I'll begin to throw in more of Season Six storyline. I have officially decided when Rory will come back but it will take a little while to play out.**


	3. Morning Sickness and Paul Anka

**Thanks for the feedback on the last chapter regarding The Twickham house. I agree with your comments and it's what I was thinking about as well when thinking about this story. I have my decision made but in order for things to work out Lorelai and Rory have to reunite first which I'm working on.**

**Also some dialogue featured comes from the episode, "Fight Face."**

* * *

Luke climbed out of bed and softly kissed Lorelai on the head causing her to stir slightly. She turned to her side and pulled the blanket closer to her but did not wake up. He headed into his small kitchen and started gathering ingredients to make breakfast for both himself and her.

Three weeks had passed since Lorelai first told him about the pregnancy. They had agreed not to tell anyone until the pregnancy was much further along due to the inherent risks that were present during the first trimester. The only person besides Luke and Lorelai that knew was Sookie and she agreed to keep her mouth zipped until Lorelai announced it to the town. Rory was still kept in the dark, due to her and Lorelai not talking which to Luke seemed insane. He thought they were both crazy for shutting each other out, he thought that Lorelai should at least try to talk to Rory again. Or that she should at least tell Rory about the engagement and pregnancy. But he knew that Lorelai was stubborn and she was set with the tough love route and there was going to be no changing her mind anytime soon.

Luke was just finishing breakfast and plating it when he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist. He smiled as heard Lorelai mutter good morning in her still sleepy voice and squeeze her arms tighter around him.

Luke set down the spatula and pan that he was holding and turned around to face Lorelai, "Good morning." He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips, "Your breakfast is ready."

"Hmm those are some might sexy words Danes," Lorelai said with a grin. She kissed him once more before sitting down at the table.

Luke set her plate down in front of her before walking back to the refrigerator. He grabbed a glass from the cabinet and turned back towards Lorelai, "You want apple juice? I remember you said something about apples when you were pregnant with Rory so I bought some at the store the other day."

Lorelai smiled at his thoughtfulness and said, "Well since you're banning me from coffee and you don't keep it up here now anyways then yes apple juice will be fine." She grabbed a piece of bacon from her plate and munched on it.

Luke joined her at the table a few minutes later with his plate and her glass of apple juice. As they ate, Luke pushed his small bowl of cut-up fruit towards Lorelai only to have her push it back towards him without taking any for her plate. Lorelai started to eat the eggs on her plate but immediately threw her hand over her mouth.

"Oh god," she muttered before heading towards the bathroom.

"Lorelai?" Luke called headed towards the bathroom. He knocked on the bathroom door.

"Don't come in here," Lorelai called back. "I'm sick, it's disgusting. Stay out." A few minutes later, he heard the water run. "Luke?"

"Yeah?" Luke replied.

"Make sure the eggs are gone when I get back out there."

"Okay," Luke replied. He walked back to the table and grabbed Lorelai's plate. He scraped the eggs from her plate and into the trashcan before deciding to just put the rest of her breakfast onto a new plate.

After brushing her teeth, Lorelai exited the bathroom, "Are the eggs gone?" she asked as she walked back into the kitchen area of the apartment. "Because I don't think the baby is too big a fan of eggs."

"They're gone," Luke replied. He reached out and brushed a strand of hair out of Lorelai's face, tucking it behind her head, "Are you okay?"

Lorelai nodded, "Yeah, it is just morning sickness. I mean it did wait a few weeks since I found out, but still I was hoping I could get by with no morning sickness."

"Maybe it won't be too bad," Luke replied.

"Maybe."

"Your breakfast, minus the eggs, is on the table."

Lorelai looked around Luke at the table where her breakfast was placed on the table, she scrunched up her nose, "I don't really think I want that anymore. I'm just going to take a shower and get ready for work."

"You need to eat breakfast."

Lorelai nodded, "I know and I will, just not that. I'll get some muffins or a doughnut from the diner before I leave." She placed her hands on Luke's hips and pulled him closer, "Care to join me in the shower?" she asked looking up at him. She gave him her very awkward but oh-so her wink.

"I'm sure Cesar can handle the diner for a little while longer," Luke replied.

Lorelai moved her hands and started unbuttoning the flannel shirt she wore as she walked towards the bathroom. She stopped in the doorway of the bathroom and slid the flannel shirt from her shoulders letting it pool at her feet.

"Come on then," Lorelai beckoned with a grin as she disappeared into the bathroom.

* * *

Later that morning, Luke was down in the diner chatting with Liz and TJ while Lorelai remained upstairs in the apartment getting ready for the day. He had just finished telling Liz and TJ about his engagement when Lorelai walked from the staircase and into the diner.

"There's my future sister-in-law," Liz said as she made her way towards Lorelai. She wrapped her arms around Lorelai and gave her a quick hug, "Hey Lorelai."

Lorelai smiled reciprocating the hug, "Hey Liz."

"You and Luke engaged!" Liz replied happily.

"Makes the whole you calling me sister-in-law makes sense," Lorelai said she walked around the counter and sat down on the stool in front of where Luke was standing.

Liz followed Lorelai and sat down beside her, "I knew you two would get together, you're his type. I can't believe he finally proposed."

Lorelai shot look a curious look, "Yeah I can't believe he proposed either."

Luke interjected, "I never said I proposed I just said that we were engaged so they assumed. You came down here before I explained everything." Lorelai laughed.

"You didn't propose?" Liz asked. She looked at Lorelai, "You proposed?"

Lorelai nodded her head, "That's the word on the street."

TJ laughed, "Man she proposed to you? That's….."

Liz slapped him on the arm, "Leave him alone, it doesn't matter who proposed it just matters that they are getting married."

"Right," Lorelai supplemented.

Liz grabbed Lorelai's left hand and examined the ring, "This ring, my brother has good taste."

Lorelai smiled up at Luke, "Yes, he does."

"Oh, I'm a jerk," Liz said suddenly.

"What?" Lorelai asked.

"I forgot to ask you about Rory," Liz replied.

Lorelai sighed, "Right."

"So, is she staying here with you during the summer break?" Liz asked.

Lorelai glanced down uncomfortably, "Oh, well, actually...Luke didn't tell you about all this?" she asked looking back and forth between Liz and Luke.

"All what?" Liz asked obliviously. She looked up at Luke then back to Lorelai.

"She's staying with her grandparents for the summer," Lorelai explained.

"Really?"

Lorelai nodded, "For a change of pace. And she'll be working and...yeah," she trailed off, the less details the better. Liz was set to be her family at some point soon but still she didn't need to know everything. Some secrets could be kept.

"Ah! Your whole extended family. You, your parents, so close. It's nice," Liz replied.

Lorelai nodded and tried to go along with it, "Yes, it is." She looked around uncomfortably again wanting to get away from the conversation. She wasn't really in the mood to talk about Rory. "I should really get to the Inn," she announced. "Can I get some muffins to go?"

Luke nodded and grabbed a take-out bag. He put a few different flavors of muffins into the bag before closing it and sliding the bag towards Lorelai. He leaned down on the counter casting a glance who wasn't paying them any attention as she was now talking to TJ. "You okay?"

Lorelai nodded, "I'm fine Luke. She didn't know about Rory, it's okay." She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips. "Are you coming over tonight?"

"I have to close tonight since Cesar opened but I'll come by," Luke replied.

"Okay," she kissed Luke again. "See you later babe." She grabbed her bag of muffins and got up from her stool. "Bye Liz, TJ," she called as she made her way to the diner door.

"Bye Lorelai," Liz replied watching Lorelai walk out the door.

* * *

Lorelai walked into the kitchen of the Inn munching on a muffin. Since Luke was still safe-guarding the coffee, except when they stayed at her house and she always found out where he hid the coffee, she headed straight for the coffee pot. She set her bag of muffins down and poured herself a cup of coffee. She leaned back against the counter and lifted the cup to her lips just in time for Sookie to spot her.

"You're not supposed to have coffee," Sookie harshly whispered. She reached up to grab the cup only to have Lorelai move it out of her reach. "Luke said you're not supposed to have coffee."

"And what Luke doesn't know want hurt him. Plus he knows that I have coffee when I'm at the house since I always find out where he hides it," Lorelai replied. "So this is okay."

"But Luke…"

"Doesn't have to know," Lorelai interrupted. "One cup of coffee a day is fine, I told Luke I would try to limit myself. And that's what I'm trying to do."

"Just don't tell him I let you have coffee," Sookie replied.

"My lips are sealed," Lorelai replied. "Like I'm going to ruin a chance to drink coffee."

Sookie laughed, "Right." She watched as Lorelai picked up the muffin and began picking at it again. "You brought food from Luke's into my kitchen?" she asked incredulously.

Lorelai smiled sheepishly, "Maybe?"

"You know I don't allow any other food besides my own in my kitchen," Sookie ranted. "And here you are bringing your fiancé's muffins into my kitchen!"

Lorelai tried not to laugh, "Sorry. It won't happen again. Luke was just making sure that I ate something since I didn't eat the breakfast he cooked."

"Why didn't you eat the breakfast he cooked?" Sookie asked.

"Morning sickness," Lorelai pouted. "It decided to start this morning while I was eating. I didn't feel like eating my breakfast after that. So I told eat I would eat something, in this case muffins, instead of what he cooked."

"Oh…" Sookie replied. She pointed her finger at Lorelai in warning, "Just don't bring any of his food in here again. This is my kitchen."

Lorelai mock-saluted the chef, "Yes Ma'am. No more bringing Luke's food in your kitchen."

"As long as you understand," Sookie replied. She turned back to chopping vegetables when suddenly she turned around, knife still in hand, "Ooh I had a dream last night!" she declared excitedly.

Lorelai flinched as Sookie almost waved the knife around, "Was it of you killing your kitchen staff and best friend with knife?" she asked, "Because I have a feeling that's what is about to happen."

"What?" Sookie asked before she noticed the knife in her hand, "Oh no. I had a dream about your wedding!"

"Okay, honey you have to put down that knife before you hurt yourself, me, or anyone else," Lorelai said. She put down her coffee cup then took the knife from Sookie and put it out of her way, "Now, you had a dream about my wedding? Why are you having dreams about my wedding?"

"Because," Sookie said, "As BFOTB…"

Lorelai held up her hand to interrupt Sookie, "BFOTB?" she asked.

"Best friend of the Bride," Sookie explained.

"Right, right continue…" Lorelai encouraged.

"So as BFOTB, I get to help plan the wedding, right?"

Lorelai nodded, "Right. I need my BFOTB," she said now becoming fond of the term.

Lorelai listened on as Sookie rattled off various wedding details. From where she should have the wedding what her wedding colors should be, and exactly what kind of cake she should have. She also threw in what kind of food that she would prepare just for Lorelai and Luke. A wedding date was also mentioned. Sookie had considered the fact that Lorelai probably wouldn't want to get married while she was pregnant so she opted for a summer wedding the next year since, by her calculations, Lorelai's baby would be born and at least a few months old.

However she couldn't get as excited about her wedding as Sookie was. Sure, she was ready to marry Luke and had occasionally day-dreamed about their wedding recently. But with her estrangement from Rory she just couldn't pin down any wedding details. She couldn't make plans when she wasn't talking to Rory, it wasn't right. Sookie was right that she didn't want to get married while pregnant though. While Sookie spoke, Lorelai just nodded along without speaking. Until things were right with Rory, she couldn't even set a date. Which is why she was so reluctant to all of Sookie's ideas.

"And you're not saying anything," Sookie observed as she ended her rant on whether or not a coffee-flavored cake would be a good idea, "Are you not listening or something?"

"No, no I'm listening," Lorelai assured her, "I just….I don't know."

"I thought this engagement was sticking," Sookie replied.

"The engagement is sticking, Luke and I are getting married," Lorelai defended herself. "I just…I can't make plans right now."

"But this is your wedding, you should be excited," Sookie replied.

Lorelai sighed. She looked down at her shoes and shifted uncomfortably. "I am excited Sookie. It's just…" she said now looking back up at her friend, "I can't commit. I mean not like that, I can commit to Luke. But I can't commit to plans right now. Not with everything with Rory that's going on. She doesn't even know about the engagement."

"Oh," Sookie said softly now understanding Lorelai's dilemma, "I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry. I was excited that you and Luke finally got it together and were getting married. I didn't realize."

Lorelai shook her head, "No need to apologize. It's alright."

"Can I just say one more thing about the wedding?" Sookie asked timidly.

Lorelai rolled her eyes playfully and smiled, "What now? Haven't you been through everything?"

"Just one small thing and it's not really something that you have to decide on, just a little something I found," Sookie said. She reached underneath the counter and produced cake topper. "I found this cake topper and look its Luke's butt!"

"Let me see," Lorelai said as she grabbed the figurine. She carefully studied the butt on the little plastic man, "It is his butt," she said a little shocked. "That's weird."

"See I told you," Sookie replied.

Lorelai laughed, "You have a man so stop checking out my man's butt."

Sookie giggled, "He does have a nice butt though."

Lorelai sighed dreamily, "Yes he does."

* * *

Later that night, Luke escorted the last customer to the door before he was about to begin his closing routine. He was trying to finish as quickly as he could since he promised Lorelai that he would come by her house after closing. He started to work on some bills when the door opened up.

"Sorry, kitchen's closed," Luke called as he turned around to see who came in. To his surprise, Rory stood at the diner door, "Rory!"

"Hi Luke," Rory replied quietly.

"Hi," Luke said nervously.

Rory glanced around at the empty diner before looking back at Luke, "So, kitchen's closed?"

"No, no, no! It's not closed. Come on in."

Luke walked behind the counter, he grabbed the coffee pot and coffee cup and placed it down on the counter. He knew that in the most awkward of situations a Gilmore girl would want coffee and this situation was definitely awkward.

"Oh," Rory said when he started to pour the coffee.

Luke stopped pouring the coffee momentarily, "Oh, no. I...I just...I figured."

"No! Yes!" Rory corrected herself, "You figured right, thank you!" She said prompting Luke to finish pouring the coffee. She took a sip, "So, it looks like the town's been doing a little painting."

"Yeah, Taylor wanted to spiff it up. Those are his words," Luke said knowing he would never want to use the words himself, "Put these obnoxious signs up. 'Pardon our spiff, it'll just take a jiff'. It's dumb."

"Yeah! Dumb."

"But it...it needed a...spiff," Luke said awkwardly trying to fill the silence and hold a conversation with Rory.

"Yeah, it looks good," Rory nodded. "So, I started my community service."

Luke nodded, "Right!"

"A little roadwork. Vest and all. 5 hours down, 295 to go."

"It's good you're chipping away at it."

"Yeah," Rory replied.

"Yeah..." Luke parroted back.

"So..." Rory trailed off. She wanted to ask about her mom. She wanted to see how she was doing but for some reason couldn't find the words to ask about her, "how are people? Are people good?"

"Yeah, people are good. People are, uh..." Luke replied. He tried to bite his tongue and not say anything but Rory needed to know. She was like a daughter to him and he wanted her to know but still wasn't sure if he should say anything. But she had the Rory face, the face that no one could resist. He looked around uncomfortably then sighed choosing to just go for it, "Your mom and I are engaged."

"Engaged?" Rory stuttered. She was sure she heard him right but needed clarification.

Luke nodded, "Yeah."

"Wow," Rory choked out. Her eyes began to well up with tears. She held them back as best as she could. "Congratulations!" she enthused through trying not to cry. This hurt. Her mom, her best friend, not sharing this with her hurt. But at the same time she wanted to feel happy for them.

"Thanks."

She had to get out of her before she really began to cry, "So, I guess I'm gonna go," she said getting up from the stool. "Um...thank you, for the coffee."

Rory disappeared out of the diner. Luke knew she was hurt and in a moment like this he would usually try to do something so she wouldn't be upset. He didn't like either one of his Gilmore girls to be upset. But in the case there was nothing he could do but watch her walk away. He didn't mention the pregnancy, she was too hurt by the engagement to hear any other news. He probably shouldn't have said anything about the engagement. Now he had to go home and tell Lorelai exactly what he did. This was not bound to go over well.

* * *

After closing, Luke headed over to Lorelai's house. Usually if he went over there after closing time, she was sleeping but tonight she wasn't. Lorelai had a surprise in the form of a dog, which she affectionately named Paul Anka, waiting for Luke. After explaining that she could take care of this dog and that all of her other pets were defective or just old, she explained his weird habits to make sure Luke would do nothing to upset him. She also told him that this gave him the chance to practice his parenting skills, well sort of anyways. After making sure that Paul Anka was sleeping, Luke and Lorelai got settled into bed.

"Ooh one more thing about the dog, he tried to take care of me when I was sick. Or really he just laid down beside me in the bathroom," Lorelai said as she sat back against the headboard. "But I thought it was sweet."

"You were sick again?" Luke asked.

Lorelai nodded, "And I don't know what caused it this time. I think it was from trying to feed Paul Anka, the smell of the dog food or something upset my stomach and I was sick again."

"Is it normal for you to get sick like that in one day?" Luke asked, "I thought it was called morning sickness."

"Ahh now see that's where it's confusing. It is called morning sickness but it can happen anytime, confusing name and terrible side effect of being pregnant," Lorelai replied, "Just remember you did this to me."

Luke arched an eyebrow, "Already blaming me?"

Lorelai leaned up and pressed a kiss to his cheek, "I'm advanced. I start things early."

"You're crazy."

"Hmm maybe," Lorelai replied, "How was your day? Anything interesting?"

Luke sighed, better go ahead and get it over with, "I told Rory we were engaged."

"What?! How? Where?" Lorelai asked rapidly.

"She came into the diner tonight," Luke explained. "It was awkward and stupid. I ended up telling her we were engaged."

"Why?!" Lorelai asked pushing herself away from the headboard, "Why would you do that?"

"Why?" Luke asked rhetorically. "Because she had the face."

"What face?"

"The Rory face. You know the face," Luke explained.

Lorelai sighed, of course she knew the Rory face. She knew it all too well, "Yes, but, Luke, you have to ignore the Rory face."

"That's easy for you to say."

Lorelai crossed her arms, she was definitely angry, "You shouldn't have told her."

"Yeah, you should've told her!" Luke argued.

Lorelai sprang up from the bed, "NO! She shouldn't have been told anything," she yelled now pacing the room. "So neither of us should've told her."

"But if one of us isn't gonna tell her more, then I'm the one that shouldn't," Luke replied as he got up out of bed.

"Right," Lorelai agreed. She pointed at him. "Meaning not you." She pointed at herself, "I should've told her."

"Then we're in full agreement. You should've told her."

Lorelai stomped her foot, "No! That's not what I'm saying." She froze for a moment as her hand drifted down to her still flat belly, "Wait a second. You didn't tell her about…." She said gesturing to her belly, "the baby?"

Luke shook his head, "No I didn't. She left after I told her about the engagement."

Lorelai nodded, "Oh good." At least she had that moment to share with her daughter, if they made up anytime soon that is.

"Are you going to tell her that?" Luke asked harshly. "Or are you going to wait until you have the baby to tell her?"

"I'll tell her at some point," Lorelai replied. "But first she has to undo what she's done. Get out of my parents' house. Go back to school." She paused, "She's is not going to play on our emotions, she can't do that. Believe me I want to tell her but I can't. I can't tell her anything until she decides to get her act right. You shouldn't have told her anything either," she spat out.

"Fine! Maybe I shouldn't have told her anything. Maybe I should've kicked her out, ignored her, whatever!" Luke argued. He pointed his finger at Lorelai, "But you got to understand something: I'm in the middle! Yeah, she's your daughter, but I'm in the middle!" he said now jabbing his finger into his own chest. He knew Lorelai was hurting over everything but she didn't seem to understand that this upset him too.

Before Lorelai could respond, Luke walked back to the bed, grabbed the pillow from his side, and exited the room. Lorelai heard him bound down the stairs noisily. She waited a few minutes before following him downstairs. She stood at the bottom of the staircase watching as Luke tried to get comfortable on the couch. Paul Anka also watched on curiously.

Lorelai walked across the living room and sat on the edge of the coffee table, "I know," she said apologetically. "You're in the middle."

Luke turned around to face her, "Good! Because you've been acting like you don't know, like you're alone in this or something."

"I know," Lorelai responded quietly.

Luke sighed, "And I know you don't want my opinion on this, but you're both being dumb, and you should be talking. There. I won't say anything more about any of this again ever." He turned back around so he back was now towards Lorelai.

Lorelai reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder, "Luke," she whispered, "The couch isn't really comfortable. Come back to bed."

Luke sat up and grabbed his pillow. He noticed the sadness present in Lorelai's eyes. He placed his hand over her knee, "We're okay."

"Good."

* * *

**I was going to put the whole Lorelai/Rory scene in here from this episode but I thought this was a good ending point. Also I know that Sookie and Lorelai don't talk about the wedding this early but I decided to go ahead and throw it in. It will tie in with the next chapter a little better.**

**Next chapter: First doctor's visit and Luke/Lorelai discuss the whole Twickham house issue.**

**Reviews are welcomed and encouraged!**


	4. This is home

**So some of the lines in this chapter are from the episode "The Ungraduate," but the events aren't all happening at the same time. This is in the summer and Yale starting is still about a month away.**

**Thanks for the feedback on the last chapter!**

**Nancy to answer something you said on my other story, Cracked Truth, I am working on a new chapter for Runaway Bride. I just got stuck writing the next chapter but I do hope to update that one soon.**

* * *

Luke walked into the bathroom to find Lorelai kneeled down next to the toilet. He crouched down beside her and placed his hand on her back as he began to rub small circles trying to comfort her. Lorelai groaned when she realized that Luke was now in the bathroom with her.

"Luke, didn't I ask you not to come in here?" Lorelai asked, "This is gross and disgusting, you don't have to be in here."

"I wanted to make sure you're okay," Luke replied still rubbing circles on her back.

Lorelai closed the lid to the toilet and leaned against Luke, "I'm fine, just morning sickness. Again."

Luke ran his fingers through her hair as he held her close. He was concerned, for the past week she had gotten sick too many times or at least that's what he thought. "Was it this bad with Rory?" he asked.

Lorelai shook her head, "No, I didn't get very sick with Rory. Just a few times actually. I don't know why it's so bad this time." For the past week since morning sickness began it seemed like she spent more time in front of the toilet than anything else. She constantly felt nauseous which prevented her from eating all that she wanted to eat. She spent most of the day sticking around the house lying in bed trying to make herself feel better.

"You do have your doctor's appointment today," Luke replied. "We can talk to her and see if you getting sick this often is normal. Because to me it seems like you are sick all the time."

Lorelai groaned again, "I'm fine Luke." She pushed herself up from the bathroom floor and stood in front of the sink. She turned on the water, grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste then began to brush her teeth.

"You've been sick for the past week," Luke argued. "I don't think running to the bathroom three times a day is normal. You haven't eaten that much recently even by a person with a normal metabolism standards. I'm just worried about you Lorelai."

"I'm pregnant, I'm going to get sick," Lorelai replied as she brushed her teeth.

"Fine, I'll talk to the doctor then," Luke said angrily. "If you're not going to bring it up, I will. Because I don't think this is normal."

Lorelai spit out the remaining toothpaste in her mouth. She wiped toothpaste from the corners of her mouth. "We'll talk to her."

Luke kissed her forehead, "I'm just concerned."

"I know."

"Are you okay now though?" Luke asked, "I should get to the diner, give Cesar a break since I took off this afternoon."

Lorelai nodded, "I'm fine. You go. Besides I think I'm going to take a shower and then head over to the Inn."

"Do you feel well enough to go to the Inn?" Luke asked.

"I feel a little better now. Besides Paris called and wanted to have lunch. Ever since everything happened with Rory, she keeps calling and wanting to get together for lunch so I told her that we could meet today," Lorelai replied. "That is if the baby actually lets me eat lunch."

Luke chuckled. He bent down and pressed a kiss to Lorelai's belly, "Be nice to mommy today."

"The baby can't hear you yet," Lorelai giggled as Luke stood back up, "But you're still cute."

"Men aren't cute," Luke grumbled.

"Ooh my manly man Luke," Lorelai said in her best southern drawl. "So strong. So brave and he just happens to be cute as well."

Luke shook his head, "Bye Crazy Lady."

Lorelai leaned up and kissed his cheek, "Bye babe."

Luke walked out of the bathroom then quickly turned around, "I'll pick you up from the Inn at 2."

"I'll be waiting," Lorelai replied.

She turned the shower on and waited for the water to heat up. While waiting for the water to heat up, Lorelai stripped of her clothes. She ran her hands over her belly, it was still flat, and no signs of a baby bump yet. The only thing she noticed changing in her body, besides the ever pregnant morning sickness, was that she seemed to go up a cup size. Luke noticed as well she found out the other night in bed when he commented on it. Still she was only eight weeks along, by her calculations anyways, so she had plenty of time to start gaining weight. Something that she was dreading for obvious reasons.

Rory was still kept out of the loop. They did talk though, if you would consider what they did talking. Just a few days ago, Lorelai was driving when she noticed Rory on the side of the road performing her community service. She stopped, the exchanged words mainly all harsh. Rory brought up the engagement and Lorelai bit her tongue not to bring up the pregnancy. It was not the time nor place to tell her daughter that she was going to be a big sister. Still this secret was going to be kept between her, Luke, and Sookie until she started showing enough that it would be obvious.

* * *

Lorelai sat at one of the dining room tables at the Dragonfly as she listened to Paris go on about how she felt about this upcoming year at Yale, how she felt about sleeping with a guy and her pajama dilemmas and how she still couldn't believe that Rory was set on not returning to Yale this year. Paris, however was convinced that by the end of the summer, Rory would return to Yale. Lorelai nodded at appropriate times and threw in a few comments. Truthfully, she was trying her best not to look bored or too nauseous. She managed to eat lunch with Paris and was just praying that it did not make a second appearance anytime soon.

Paris continued on with her pajama discussion.

"The truth is," Paris said, "this is the first time in my life that I've consistently spent the night with a man."

"Uh huh," Lorelai prodded on. She tried her best to listen, Paris was a good kid but Lorelai was bored with this conversation at this point and was just hoping that Luke would show up soon for their appointment.

"I don't know the rules. Obviously the clothes have to come off for the actual sex part of the evening, but, afterward, what are you supposed to do? I mean nightgowns are obviously out, but wearing nothing seems extreme. And, in case of fire, completely impractical."

Lorelai nodded, "I'm sure." Truthfully some nights, she and Luke both slept naked. Other nights she ended up wearing his flannel to bed. And then some nights she actually wore her own pajamas instead of his flannel but she was not about to reveal all of this to Paris.

Paris continued on, oblivious to Lorelai's boredom, "I wore a camisole one night. It almost strangled me. And I'm definitely not a teddy girl, so what does that leave?"

"Umm…" Lorelai thought, "T-shirts?"

"But what does a t-shirt say about me?" Paris asked.

"Sweetie," Lorelai sighed. "It's just a t-shirt. They don't tend to be that chatty." She looked over Paris' shoulder and saw Luke standing in the entryway of the Inn. She signaled to just give her a minute. "Paris, I would love to continue this conversation but I really have to go."

"I was just going to get another espresso, are you sure we can't talk more?" Paris asked.

Lorelai stood up from the table, "Normally I would say yes. But I actually have an appointment to get too. Which I'm going to be late for if I don't get going soon."

"What kind of appointment?" Paris asked as she stood up from the table.

Lorelai started to guide her gently out of the dining room and towards the door, "Oh just an appointment, nothing major." She looked at Luke as she passed him, "Just one minute hun."

"Who is that?" Paris asked pointing out Luke.

"That's Luke, you've met him before," Lorelai replied, "My fiancé."

"Oh," Paris said, "Is he going with you? Are you going to the doctor? Are you sick?" she asked shirking away from Lorelai. "You know I don't like sick people."

"And why are you trying to be a doctor or studying medicine again?" Lorelai asked, "Never-mind, you don't have to answer. It's just a general check-up, Luke's just going with me because afterwards we have plans so he's going with me."

"Oh okay then," Paris replied. "So I'll see you next Tuesday?"

Lorelai nodded, "Sure next Tuesday." She waited until Paris left the Inn before she walked back over to Luke. "You are my savior. I mean she's a good kid and everything but I was just so bored during lunch."

"Are you ready to go?" Luke asked.

"Just let me get my purse," Lorelai replied. She walked behind the front desk and picked up her purse. "Now let my just go tell Sookie and Michel I'm leaving," she said as she passed by Luke.

Lorelai walked into the kitchen to find both Michel and Sookie standing around. She put her hands on her hips, "Were you seriously hiding in here from Paris?" she asked looking at Michel.

"She scares me," Michel replied.

"Well rest easy, she's gone now," Lorelai said. "I'm gone too. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Bye hun," Sookie replied, "Call me and let me know."

"I will," Lorelai assured her friend.

"Call you and tell you what?" Michel asked. "Are you two keeping something from me?"

Lorelai shook her head, "Oh it's nothing Michel."

Michel looked between Sookie and Lorelai. He knew that they were keeping something from him. He didn't like being kept out of the loop. Michel pouted, "Fine, don't tell me. I don't want to know anyways," he said before storming out of the kitchen.

Lorelai looked at Sookie and they both started laughing, "He's such a drama queen."

Sookie nodded, "I know. Are you going to tell him though?"

"Eventually," Lorelai replied. "He might be one of the first I tell though."

"That's good."

"Yeah, okay I should go," Lorelai said, "Luke's waiting on me."

"Remember to call me," Sookie replied.

"I will," Lorelai said as she exited the kitchen. She slung her purse onto her shoulder and made her way towards Luke, "I'm ready to go now."

"Something wrong with Michel?" Luke asked. "He stormed by me muttering something under his breath." He placed a hand on Lorelai's lower back as they walked out of the Inn.

"Michel's just a baby," Lorelai replied.

* * *

Lorelai laid back on the examination table with her hands folded across her belly. Beside the examination table, Luke sat in a chair. The nurse had been in earlier and ran some tests including taking blood for the official pregnancy test. Other tests were ran to make sure that she was healthy and to determine as much as they could about her pregnancy. She looked over at Luke who had his head bowed down as he stared at the ground. She extended her arm and placed her hand on Luke's shoulder.

"Babe are you okay?" Lorelai asked.

Luke lifted his head up at the sound of Lorelai's voice, "Yeah, yeah I'm fine."

Lorelai smirked, "Really? Is something just super interesting on the ground?" she asked.

"I just…" Luke sighed. He hated hospitals and all doctor's offices. Ever since his dad got sick and spent most of his time in the hospital being treated, Luke couldn't step into one without feeling sick. Same thing with doctor's offices. Bad memories of his Dad just shuffling in and out of hospitals and various doctor's offices flared up in his mind every time he stepped foot in one.

Lorelai smiled sympathetically, "I know hun. That's why I said you didn't have to come with me. I know how you feel about hospitals and doctors in general and I'm okay with coming by myself if it's all too much for you."

Luke turned more towards Lorelai. He placed one of his hands over her hands, "And I told you that I wanted to be here. I want to be here every step of the way. I'm going to be here for you and for our baby, every step of the way. I'm not going to be like Christopher. I'm going to be here. I promise."

"I was never worried that you were going to be like him," Lorelai replied, "I'm just trying to make sure you're okay and you're comfortable doing all of this."

"I'm comfortable," Luke replied. Lorelai gave him a look saying that she didn't believe him. "Well I'm not completely comfortable but I will be okay. I didn't like the whole needle thing."

"Well no more needles," Lorelai assured him. "The doctor will come in here and we'll probably discuss some things, I'll bring up the morning sickness thing and then she'll most likely do an ultrasound and we will be able to actually see our baby."

"Sounds good," Luke replied. He patted her hands with his then sat back in the chair.

"I wonder how Paul Anka is going to feel about a baby in the house," Lorelai pondered. "I just hope that he won't be too jealous. He feels like he's my baby."

"That's how you treat him," Luke replied. "He might be scared of a baby in the house, he's scared of everything else."

"He's just unique."

"Neurotic," Luke corrected.

Lorelai laughed heartily, "Unique Luke. Unique. Call him neurotic and you might just hurt his feelings."

"He's a dog," Luke argued.

"He still has feelings."

"You're crazy too."

Lorelai smiled, "Then Paul Anka and I are perfect for one another."

Lorelai and Luke sat in a companionable silence while they waited for the doctor to come back in with her test results. Dr. Johnson was her doctor, one she had been seeing for years. She happened to be the same doctor that she had seen when she was pregnant with Rory. After a few minutes the door opened and Dr. Johnson walked in.

"Hello again Lorelai," Dr. Johnson said. "And is this your husband?" she asked pointing out Luke.

"Oh this is my fiancé," Lorelai replied, "This is Luke." She turned to Luke, "And Luke this is Dr. Johnson."

"Nice to meet you," Luke said.

Dr. Johnson nodded, "You too." She flipped open her chart, "Well you are definitely pregnant, congratulations."

Lorelai smiled, "Well you know I figured three or four home tests wouldn't lie. At least I hope they wouldn't." She looked over at Luke who had a similar smile on his face.

"They didn't lie, you're definitely pregnant. And by the information you gave us you're about eight weeks along which will make your due date on February 17," Dr. Johnson replied.

Lorelai looked over at Luke, "February 17, maybe will have a snow baby."

"Snow baby?" Dr. Johnson questioned looking up from Lorelai's chart.

"She has a weird thing about snow," Luke explained.

"It's not a weird thing," Lorelai replied. "I just love the snow. Great things have happened in my life when it snowed and if this baby happened to snow when this baby is born then it's just further proof that snow is magical."

"Makes sense to me," Dr. Johnson replied, "I love the snow too. So Lorelai, it's been a while since you've been in this position. How old is your daughter now?"

"Rory will be 21 this year," Lorelai answered, "So it's been a very long time." Thoughts of the plans that she and Rory made for her 21st birthday flew through her mind as she spoke. She just hoped that she and Rory would make up in time so they could still spend her birthday together even if plans might have to be changed somewhat since Lorelai was now pregnant.

Dr. Johnson glanced through Lorelai's chart once more, "Have you had any other symptoms of pregnancy? Any nausea, morning sickness, anything of that nature?"

"I've had morning sickness recently," Lorelai replied.

"She's had bad morning sickness," Luke added in

"How bad has it been?" Dr. Johnson asked.

"It started about a week ago or a little over a week ago," Lorelai explained. "I haven't worked much the past week because I've been staying at home. Over the past week I've tried to eat a few things but I've felt nauseous almost constantly. Today though I actually felt good enough to go to work."

"Hmm okay," Dr. Johnson replied taking another look through Lorelai's chart.

"Is this something we should be worried about?" Luke asked.

"Well morning sickness is common in the first trimester. If this were to continue out of the first trimester then we would be worried. Morning sickness usually wears off around twelve to fourteen weeks. The hormone hcG is what causes morning sickness and in your case, you have high levels of that specific hormone," Dr. Johnson explained.

"So that's why I've been really sick?" Lorelai asked.

Dr. Johnson nodded, "I believe so."

"Is it bad that that she has high levels of whatever you said?" Luke asked. Lorelai smiled at just how attentive Luke was being by asking questions.

"It's not bad, it's just that in this case with your levels," Dr. Johnson said looking at Lorelai, "We're usually expecting multiples."

Lorelai's eyes went wide. She glanced over at Luke whose jaw she thought she would have to pick up from the ground. She looked back at Dr. Johnson. "Multiples?" she asked.

"Multiples," Dr. Johnson confirmed. "I know it's a shock, most parents are usually expecting one baby but I think in your case you might be having twins."

"Twins?" Luke asked as he tried to recover from the shock, "As in more than one?"

"That's usually what twins mean honey," Lorelai replied.

"Now the only way to be for sure that we might be dealing with multiples is for an ultrasound which you were already scheduled for today anyways," Dr. Johnson said. "If you'll lift up your shirt then we can start the ultrasound."

Lorelai unbuttoned the few bottom buttons on her shirt and pulled it open. She shivered as the cold, blue gel touched her belly. Dr. Johnson grabbed the ultrasound wand and flipped on the machine. She placed the wand on the side of Lorelai's belly.

"Are you ready to see your baby?" Dr. Johnson asked. "Or possible babies?"

Lorelai nodded, she reached out and grabbed Luke's hand, "We're ready."

Dr. Johnson began to move the wand around on Lorelai's belly. A few seconds passed before a black-and-white image popped up on the screen. Lorelai's eyes watered at the image. Luke was staring intently at the screen.

"Well Lorelai, Luke," Dr. Johnson said addressing the couple. "Congratulations you're having twins."

Lorelai felt Luke squeeze her hand, she turned towards him and smiled, "Twins," she whispered softly, "Just like my dream."

"Yeah," Luke replied. It was obvious he was still in shock. Lorelai was too but she was doing a better job of covering it up.

"If you'll look at the screen, you'll see that baby A is here," Dr. Johnson said as she pointed to the left side of the screen. She then pointed to the right side of the screen, "And Baby B is here."

Lorelai smiled as she felt Luke place a kiss on her forehead. She turned her head and managed to kiss him on the lips before he pulled away.

"Twins," Luke said.

"Two babies, double the jam hands," Lorelai replied with a teasing smile.

"Would you like a picture from today?" Dr. Johnson asked. Lorelai nodded. "Okay then we'll get a picture. Everything else here looks healthy, your twins look healthy. Everything is right on track." She moved the wand from Lorelai's belly and handed her copies from the ultrasound. She also handed Lorelai a tissue to wipe the gel from her belly.

Lorelai handed the pictures off to Luke while she cleaned the gel from her belly. She buttoned back up her shirt and caught Luke staring fondly at the pictures. She smiled.

* * *

"Twins?" Sookie echoed over the phone.

Lorelai leaned back against her kitchen counter as she watched Luke clean up their dinner mess. They had agreed that Sookie could be kept up to date since she was Lorelai's best friend and she was there when Lorelai found out.

"Yeah twins," Lorelai confirmed.

"What did Luke say?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai looked over at Luke who wasn't paying attention to her at this point, "I think he's still in shock."

"I think I would be too," Sookie replied.

"Well it was definitely not what I was expecting and I'm still a little shocked, maybe my dream a few years back was actually a premonition." Lorelai gasped, "Maybe I can see the future. Ooh ask me something about the future."

"You can't see the future," Luke explained.

"Hey, private phone conversation here," Lorelai replied. "Luke's eavesdropping on our call," she said to Sookie.

"You're standing right next to me!" Luke replied causing Lorelai to giggle.

"You guys are going to be great parents," Sookie said.

"Thanks Sookie," Lorelai replied.

"I should go, Jackson's looking for me. I had to hide to take this call so he wouldn't overhear. Your secret is still safe with me," Sookie said.

"Ok then bye Sookie," Lorelai hung up the phone and placed it down on the counter. She knelt down on the floor next to Paul Anka. "Hear that Paul Anka, you're going to be a big brother to not one but two babies."

"That dog is not going to be their brother," Luke replied.

Lorelai gave Paul Anka one last pat on the head then stood up and walked over to Luke. She wrapped her arms around his waist, "You must feel pretty smug with yourself, impregnating me with two babies."

"Hmm maybe," Luke replied.

Lorelai leaned up and kissed his cheek. "So how are you feeling about this? You haven't said much since we got home this afternoon. You were pretty quiet through dinner."

Luke finished drying the dish in his hand and put it back in the cabinet. "I think that this house isn't big enough for two babies." He put the rag in his hand down and turned towards Lorelai, "I think we need to discuss the Twickham house again."

Lorelai's face fell. She unwrapped her arms around from Luke's waist and walked out of the kitchen. Luke followed behind her and watched as she sat down on the couch and flipped on the TV. He stared in disbelief as she just flat out ignored his suggestion. He crossed the living room and stood in front of the TV.

"I'm trying to watch that," Lorelai said, "Move."

Luke crossed his arms, "Are you just going to ignore what I just said?"

"Are you just going to ignore that I asked you to move?" Lorelai retorted.

"This is ridiculous Lorelai."

"Yeah the fact that I'm just trying to watch TV and you're blocking me from doing that is pretty ridiculous."

"Would you stop avoiding the subject?" Luke asked.

"I'm not avoiding anything."

"Bullshit," Luke replied. "You said you wanted time to think about the Twickham house. I gave you time and you haven't even said anything about it in the past few weeks. If I even said anything about it you ignored me like you're doing now."

"Move Luke," Lorelai ordered.

"I'm not moving."

"Fine." Lorelai threw the remote down on the couch. "I'll just go to bed early tonight."

Luke moved and stood in front of the staircase preventing Lorelai from going up.

Lorelai rolled her eyes, "Stop playing these childish games Luke. Just move."

"You're the one acting like a child," Luke replied. "You're ignoring everything I'm trying to talk about. Just because you choose not to talk about something does not mean it's going to go away. You think ignoring problems will fix everything."

Lorelai crossed her arms with a stern expression on her face. He had no right to say that. Just a few minutes ago they were happy but now she was pissed off. She huffed, "Maybe it will be for the best if you spend tonight at your apartment."

"I'm not going anywhere until he talk about this," Luke replied. "I'm not going back to my apartment."

"This is my house, I can make you leave," Lorelai replied coldly.

"That's just it," Luke replied loudly. He turned and walked away from the staircase, "This is your house. This will always be your house. Even if I were to move in it would probably still be your house, not mine."

Lorelai watched Luke pace around the room but she stayed silent.

"And if you really wanted to stay here I would be willing to do that for you," Luke replied. "But where would we put two babies? There's no room here. You're not going to want to use Rory's room which I agree Rory should still have her own room but there's nothing else we could do here. We can't fit two babies in here."

"I'm not discussing this right now."

Anger flared up in his eyes, "Then when are we going to discuss it?" he asked.

"Just please stop," Lorelai pleaded.

"No."

"Please."

Luke threw his hands up in the air, "Forget it then. Don't talk to me about this, don't talk to Rory about what's going on with her, just ignore everything." He started to talk towards the front door, "I'll leave."

"I can't give up Rory's room," Lorelai said softly.

Luke shut the front door and turned around to face Lorelai, "What?"

"I lost Rory and at this point I can't afford to lose her room."

"You didn't lose her," Luke replied.

"Yes I did Luke!" Lorelai argued. "I lost her to my parents. The two people that I never wanted her to end up like. I lost all of her things, there's nothing really in her room!"

Luke started to walk towards her, "Lorelai."

"This house was the first big thing that was able to provide for her," Lorelai replied. "I mean before I was able to give her shelter and food but that was all under the guidance of Mia. She gave us the place to stay. I saved up for years to be able to provide for her, to prove to myself that I could do this on my own and this house was the first real sign of that."

Luke followed Lorelai as she sat down on the couch and continued talking.

Lorelai looked around the room wistfully, "Buying this house, as terrible as it was, proved to me that I made the right decision. It showed me that I could do this on my own. That I didn't need Christopher, I didn't need my parents. All I needed was Rory."

Lorelai turned her head and locked eyes with Luke. "This house is a terrible house, there's so many things wrong with it. I mean that's why I gave it the name Crap Shack. But it's my home. It's the first place that I really felt at home. I never really felt at home in the house I grew up in. It wasn't me. This," she said gesturing around the room, "This is me. This is Rory. It's both of us. It's where I did a lot of my growing up and where Rory did a lot of hers as well."

Lorelai looked away from Luke and stared at the ground. She tried to blink back tears that were starting to form. She felt Luke reach over and squeeze her hand.

Lorelai cleared her throat, "Rory and I love this house."

"I know you do," Luke replied softly.

"You fixed practically everything in this house, probably multiple times."

Luke nodded, "I know."

"Some without even asking," Lorelai replied.

"You didn't have to ask, I knew when stuff needed fixing."

"Even after Rory and I moved in here, she spent a few nights in my bed because we were used to it. She was older but she thought this was the best thing that ever happened to her. She couldn't wait to have her own space and decorate it like she wanted to. I didn't have a lot of money for furniture and Rory understood that, because she's an amazing kid, but still even with just the bare essentials at first she thought it was great that we had our own house now," Lorelai replied. "And because now she had an entire room that she could fill up with books."

Luke chuckled, "Sounds just like Rory."

"Yeah," Lorelai sighed. "It's just so many great things have happened here."

"I know Lorelai."

"And now with this going on with Rory, I can't just leave it behind. I know that we don't have room here and I just don't know what to do anymore," Lorelai replied. "This house is too small, even if we expanded it which might not even work. And now with two babies, The Twickham house would be perfect but I lost Rory. I don't know how soon after I can lose the house."

"You didn't lose Rory. You two are going through a thing right now but you're going to make up and you'll talk again then everything will be right with the world."

"You don't know that," Lorelai replied.

Luke put his hand on the side of Lorelai's face and turned it towards him. He used the pads of his thumbs to wipe the tears off her cheeks, "I do know that," he whispered softly. "Soon you two will talk again and then you'll spend a lot of time together just like before."

"You were right before," Lorelai whispered.

"You're admitting I was right?" Luke asked.

"Don't get used to it," Lorelai replied. She smiled softly, "But you were right before. This is my house and Rory's house. I get that it would be hard for you to feel at home here even if you did all the repairs on the house. I think we need a place that's ours. All of ours. Yours, mine, Rory's, and the babies. But I don't think I can fully let go of this house until things are right with Rory. I need to know that she's okay with it."

"Okay," Luke replied. "But I think you need to go ahead and at least try to talk with her. This shutting each other out is ridiculous."

"So you've said a few times," Lorelai said.

"It's…"

Lorelai shut him off seemingly reading his mind, "I know. I know you want me to talk to her and that I should especially now with everything happening. I know that I need to tell her about the pregnancy soon. I know all of this, you've told me this. And I want to but it's hard. What she did hurt me."

"You both hurt each other. But you're the mother, the grown-up," Luke reminded her. "You need to be the one to reach out."

Lorelai sighed. "I don't want to set a wedding date until things are right with Rory."

Luke nodded, somewhat caught off-guard, "Okay."

"And then I think we should schedule the wedding after the babies are born. I don't want to be pregnant on my wedding day," Lorelai replied.

"We can do that. It takes time to plan anyways," Luke replied.

"You're okay with waiting?" Lorelai asked.

Luke nodded, "Yeah I'm okay with waiting."

Lorelai grinned, "I love you."

Luke cupped her face in his hands. He kissed her softly, "I love you too."

Lorelai sighed, "Now we're going to have to buy double everything."

"Oh jeez," Luke groaned.

Lorelai just laughed and laid her head on Luke's shoulder, "We'll be okay. We can handle it."

* * *

**So for all those just waiting for mother/daughter interaction then you're going to love the next chapter! And for all of those just waiting for Jess then you are also going to love the next chapter.**

**I already have the next chapter pretty much written but I do kind of want to space out when I post them so I don't really go through a lull.**

**Reviews are very much encouraged and welcomed!**


	5. That First Step

**Thanks for the feedback!**

**A/N: Just addressing a few things. April will be brought into the story later on. I have mentioned this before but I just wanted to mention it again due to recent reviews. But since I'm working on the L/L relationship she's not going to have the same effect as before.**

* * *

Over the next two weeks, Lorelai battled the voices inside her head telling her that Luke was right and that she needed to talk to Rory. After opening up about just why she was afraid to leave the Crap Shack and move into the Twickham house, Luke had told her that she needed to be the one to take the first step. And she tried a few times. There were phone calls where she dialed all but the last number then ended up just hanging up the phone. There was even a trip to Hartford where she almost drove to her parent's house but ended up turning around and coming home. Either way she had still not taken Luke's advice fully and talked to Rory. She always seemed to chicken out.

Morning sickness still came and went. Luckily ginger ale and crackers seemed to help her at the worst times. She managed to eat a little more than she had been able too recently but was still running to the bathroom at least twice a day.

Lorelai stood underneath the spray of the shower allowing to the warm water to cascade down her body. She grabbed her raspberry-scented body wash and lathered up. She recently switched body washes finding that the smell of her old body wash made her sick to her stomach. As the water was washing away the suds, Lorelai ran her hands down her stomach. For the first time since learning she was pregnant, Lorelai noticed a small curvature to her belly. She looked down and noticed that there was a small yet definite bump there. One that could easily be seen when she was naked but wouldn't be noticeable with clothes, at least not yet. She seemed to just pop overnight. Thinking back over it, she realized her pants did feel a little snugger in the waist the past few days. She grinned and kept running her hands over the small bump.

Lorelai finished with her shower and stepped out. She dried off with a towel then wrapped it around her body as she headed out of the bathroom. She just had to show Luke the bump but first she needed to get dressed. As she stepped into the bedroom, she let the towel drop away from her body. She shimmied into her bra and panties. Just as she slipped into a pair of pants that were always a little big on her and found that they now fit perfectly, Luke walked into the bedroom.

"Your breakfast is ready downstairs, I'm about to head to the diner," Luke said.

"Sure," Lorelai replied. "You just knew I was half-naked and wanted to come up here to sneak a peek at the goods."

"I can see the goods anytime I want, I don't have to sneak a peek," Luke replied as he leaned in the doorway.

"As true as that is, I still know you like to sneak peeks," Lorelai replied. She made a 'come here' motion with your finger, "You need to see something."

"What?" Luke asked.

Lorelai pointed down to her belly. "Your babies have decided to make their presence even more known." She grabbed Luke's hand and placed it over the small bump, "This is the bump, your babies."

Luke smiled as he ran his hand over the small bump. His thumb traced small circles around Lorelai's belly. "This is…amazing."

"Yeah," Lorelai sighed happily. "It's amazing until I start gaining weight and end up bigger than the house. We are going to have to widen the doorways for me to get through. Just wait a few months and you'll see what I'm talking about."

Luke shook his head, "You're crazy."

"No, I've been through this before and I know how much weight I gained with just one baby. Now I'm incubating two babies in there which means I will gain more weight," Lorelai replied. She placed her hand over Luke's that was still on her belly. She spoke softly, "Pretty soon, I'm going to start showing more and people will know."

"Like I said before, we'll tell everyone when you're ready to tell everyone," Luke replied.

"I have to tell Rory first. She has to know first. They will be her siblings."

"I told her about the engagement and you yelled at me so I'm definitely not telling her this," Luke replied.

Lorelai laughed. "No you're definitely not telling her this. I'll tell her. I'll call her or something."

"Soon?" Luke asked.

Lorelai nodded reluctantly, "Soonish." She paused thinking of a way to change the subject. "I was thinking that since I have the day off that I would go shopping pick up a few things for me, maybe you, and a few items for the babies."

Luke reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He opened it up, slid out his card, and handed it over to Lorelai. She smiled noticing the ultrasound picture that he kept in his wallet but chose not to say anything, "Don't go too crazy," he warned.

"I don't need your card. I have my own," Lorelai replied as she plucked the card from his fingers. "But I could still use yours."

"It will be ours soon," Luke replied. He leaned in and kissed her lips. "Just try to return the card in one piece."

"I make no promises," Lorelai replied. She placed her hands on both sides of Luke's head and pulled him in closer for another kiss. "Mm bye hun."

Luke pulled away, "Bye Crazy Lady." He bent down and pressed a kiss to her stomach, "Bye babies."

"Leopold and Loeb," Lorelai corrected. "That's what we're calling them, for now at least."

Luke stood back and pressed a kiss to her forehead, "I'll see you later."

Lorelai placed both her hands back over her baby bump and had a bright grin on her face as she watched Luke leave.

* * *

Lorelai exited the mall, her arms laden down with shopping bags. Inside the bags were different pieces of maternity clothing that she would definitely need in the near future and a few sets of baby clothes, two of everything of course. She also picked up a few new shirts for Luke while shopping. She stuffed the bags into the backseat of her jeep, climbed in the driver's seat and drove out of the parking lot. As she turned onto the highway thoughts of her conversation with Luke this morning popped into her head. She had just began showing, a baby bump making its appearance which led to the realization that people were going to begin to speculate soon as she started to gain weight. When people started speculating and asking questions it would be harder for her to keep this a secret. But before she announced the news to the town, she had to tell Rory. She deserved to know. She told Luke she would call Rory soon or in her words soonish.

Lorelai slowed to a stop as she approached a traffic light. Her eyes darted over to the road on her left. She knew the road all too well. If she were to turn down that road in just a matter of minutes, she would find herself passing by her parent's house. The road would ultimately lead her back to Rory. Making a somewhat impulsive decision as the light turned green, Lorelai turned down the road heading to her parent's house instead of heading back to Stars Hollow. As she pulled into the driveway of her parent's house, Lorelai noted that her mother's car wasn't there however she did see Rory's car.

She grabbed her purse from the passenger seat, got out of the Jeep, and headed around the house to the pool house. Hesitating for just a moment, Lorelai raised her fist and knocked on the door. She heard shuffling around inside the pool-house before Rory's voice called for her to just to "come in."

Lorelai took a deep breath, thinking it was ridiculous to feel this panicky and nervous just to talk to her daughter, and twisted the doorknob letting herself in. Rory had her back to her as she moved around the pool-house obviously getting ready to go somewhere.

"You know if Emily found out you were just yelling "come in" to people, she could probably sit you down for a discussion on how one answers the door themselves or hires someone to answer the door," Lorelai said as she stood close by the door.

Rory spun around to face her mother, "Mom?"

"Are you going somewhere?" Lorelai asked, "I can leave."

Rory looked down at her jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers. "I was about to leave for community service," she answered. "But…um...what are you doing here?"

Lorelai shrugged as if stopping by like this was normal despite the fact that they hadn't really talked in weeks, "I was in the neighborhood."

"Mom."

"Can we talk?" Lorelai asked. "We need to talk," she stressed taking a few steps towards her daughter.

Rory nodded towards the door, "I kind of need to go."

"Just five minutes Rory," Lorelai said sternly, using the mother tone she rarely used. "Five minutes, that's all I'm asking. Plus you're forgetting I know you, you're probably going to leave early and get there before your supervisor is even there. Tell me I'm wrong."

"Well…" Rory sighed. She was caught, her mother was right. Of course she was going to get there early.

Lorelai smirked victoriously, "I knew it."

Rory moved across the room and sat down on the couch sensing that there was big new coming her way. She sighed, "What's going on? Are you okay? Is Luke okay?"

Lorelai sat down on the couch, the opposite end of where Rory was sitting. "Everyone is okay," she assured her. "You know how much I love to be right and I have a hard time when other people are right. But at this moment, I have to admit that Luke is right. And I don't like admitting that he's right because he gets the smug grin on his face and then teases me about but then I just remind him that most of the time I am right and..."

"Mom," Rory said trying to impede her rambling.

"Right," Lorelai said trying to get back on track. "But like I said Luke is right, this is dumb. His words. We should be talking. I didn't come here to force you to go home or go back to school because ultimately that's your decision. I can tell you how stupid you're being and how that Mitchum guy is a complete ass because you do have what it takes because I believe you do, but I can't force your hand. You're an adult. My parents tried to force my hand in everything and well you know how that turned out. I could not have the relationship that I have with my parents with you. I can tell you that dropping out of Yale was a decision you'll regret but I'm not going to force you to go back." There was a pause. "Unless this goes on for too much longer because I will drag you to that school myself and force you to attend classes and believe me Luke will be there to help. That was his idea anyways."

Rory hid her laughter. She could imagine her mother and Luke dragging her to school and absolutely forcing her to go. She cleared her throat, "Why are you here though?" she didn't want to seem rude but the question needed to be asked.

Lorelai took a deep breath then slowly released it, "I have news."

"News?"

"Big news," Lorelai supplemented looking down at her hands. She fidgeted nervously looking at the ring on her finger, "I should have told you about the engagement and I regret that I didn't. So this news that I have now is going to come from me and not Luke."

"What is it?" Rory asked.

Lorelai looked up at Rory, "Remember when I called you when Sookie had her baby and I was freaking out about eating an apple? Then you asked to be kept up to date on all things apple-related and pregnancy scares?"

Rory nodded processing the information. She just remembered that her mother and she never talked about the apple incident after that phone call. "So are you saying…?"

Lorelai nodded, "I'm pregnant. You're going to be a big sister kid." She reached into her purse and pulled out the black and white picture. "There's more news though that goes along with this."

"Don't tell me that you and Luke have eloped because that would really hurt," Rory replied.

"I can't get married without you kid," Lorelai replied softly. She reached over and placed her free hand on top of Rory's, "Never in a million years would I even attempt that. You have to be there. It just wouldn't be the same without you."

Rory sighed with relief. "So what else is there?"

"Remember when you were in Washington that summer and I had that dream about Luke and I was carrying his twins?" Lorelai asked, "Well…"

Rory's jaw dropped, "You're having twins?" she interjected, "Twins? As in two babies?"

Lorelai couldn't help but laugh, "Luke said almost the same exact thing! And he even had the same look on his face." She handed the ultrasound to Rory once her laughter calmed down. She pointed to one small spot on the ultrasound, "Baby A," she pointed to the other spot on the ultrasound, "And Baby B."

Rory looked down at the ultrasound, "Wow, that's…" She was so happy for her mother and for Luke. Yeah, they weren't married yet but she knew that by her mother's actions just now that she really wanted this. She was finally going to get her middle with Luke.

"Crazy?" Lorelai inquired. "I know."

Rory handed the ultrasound back to her mother, her posture stiffened, "How long have you known?"

Lorelai's smile fell from her face, "Um I've known that I was pregnant for weeks now. I mean it was just a week or so after everything happened. I found out it was twins just a week or two ago. Two weeks ago actually. Believe me Rory, I wanted to tell you but I just couldn't. I don't know why. Luke and I have fought about this recently and in between talking and fighting with him, I realized that I needed to tell you. I had to talk to you."

"It's okay," Rory replied. Looking down, she caught the time on her watch, "I really should go. I have to make a stop before my community service begins," she explained.

Lorelai nodded and stood up, "Okay. Just umm…one more thing. I feel stupid even having to say this but home is waiting for you anytime. You can call me anytime. My phone is always on….well except for when I get to charge it or lose the house phone but besides that it's always on. Plus with Luke around more things aren't getting lost as much. So just call me for anything, okay?"

"Okay."

Lorelai grabbed her purse and stuck the ultrasound back inside. "I'll see you later then I guess." She turned and walked towards the door. As she was about to leave, Rory called out to her.

"Wait!" Rory walked over to her mother, she smiled, "Just congratulations on both. The engagement and the babies. Tell Luke I said congratulations too. This is really great."

Lorelai smiled, "I will."

She left the pool-house with a smile on her face, content with the fact that Rory knew and that things seemed to be getting back on the right track of her coming home. Plus she couldn't wait to get home to Luke of what just happened, he would definitely be proud of her. The smile was wiped from her face when she noticed her mother standing beside her car.

Emily crossed her arms when she noticed Lorelai approaching, "Well Lorelai, it's been a while. What are you doing here?"

"I needed to talk to Rory," Lorelai answered coolly. "Will you excuse me, I need to get into my car."

Emily stepped out of the way allowing Lorelai to get into the car, "What did you need to talk to Rory about?"

"She's my daughter. Whatever I had to talk about is between her and me, this is really none of your business," Lorelai replied. She shut the door to her jeep and clutched the steering wheel.

"She's my grand-daughter and you're my daughter. This is my house so this is my business," Emily replied. Her gaze fell upon Lorelai's left hand where the ring sparkled in the sunlight, "Well it seems congratulations are in order."

Lorelai followed her mother's gaze which she noticed was focused on her ring, "Well, that wasn't exactly congratulations, but, sure close enough."

Emily wasn't happy, her daughter had once again neglected to tell her something that was going on in her life. Never mind that Lorelai said she wasn't speaking to them, she should still know that her daughter was engaged. She was engaged to that diner man that Emily still believed was below Lorelai.

"Goodbye Lorelai," Emily replied. She turned on her heel and marched inside the house.

Lorelai took a deep breath then released it as she watched her mother walk away. She patted her belly with her right hand once. "Come on," she said looking down at her belly, "Let's go tell daddy that we talked to big sister Rory."

* * *

Lorelai arrived back in Stars Hollow and pulled up in front of the diner. She parked her car and headed inside. She breezed into the diner with the happy knowledge that she had finally spoken to Rory in a civil manner and managed to snag some great deals on baby clothes, maternity clothes, and what she dubbed Luke clothes. She plopped her purse down on the stool next to her and sat down.

"How much damage did you do?" Luke asked as he set down a cup in front of her and filled it with coffee from the decaf pot.

"Your card is still smoking," Lorelai replied with a grin. "Actually I found some really great deals so our bab…." She trailed off before finishing the word babies upon realization that they were in the diner and Miss Patty was just a few feet from them. "I just found some great deals and bought a lot of stuff."

"Good," Luke replied. "Do you want anything?"

"Chili-cheese fries," Lorelai answered. "And some pickles on the side. Actually put the pickles on top."

"Disgusting. You're not getting that. It's unhealthy."

Lorelai pouted, she leaned across the counter, "Think of me and the buns you put in this oven."

"Fine, but after this you're eating a salad," Luke replied. He wrote Lorelai's order down on his order pad before giving the order to Cesar in the kitchen.

Lorelai smiled as Luke walked back over to her, "Guess what else I did today?"

"What?"

"Guess!"

"Just tell me," Luke replied, "It's been a long day already."

Lorelai shook her head, "Nope. Think back to our conversation this morning and just guess!"

Luke thought back to the conversation this morning. Lorelai was a little concerned to already be showing which meant soon the town would know. They discussed how she needed to tell Rory and Lorelai said that she would call her soon.

"You called Rory?" Luke guessed.

"You could say that," Lorelai said, "But you would be wrong because I went to my parent's and actually talked to Rory."

"You talked to Rory?" Luke asked. "So is she going back to Yale? Is she coming home? Are you two okay again?"

"We didn't talk about that. I didn't want to go there and then have another argument with her," Lorelai replied. "I just told her about our," she coughed, "ahem situation or situations and she said congratulations. She told me to tell you congratulations too."

"Oh," Luke replied.

"Oh?" Lorelai asked, a stern expression crossed her face. "You have nothing else to say? You're the one that told me to talk to her. I thought you would be proud of me for reaching out to her."

Luke leaned down on the counter, "I am proud of you for taking that first step," he said softly. "I just thought when you did talk to her that you would tell her about what we talked about and about Yale and her going back to school and everything."

"I just…I don't want to push her and lose her even more then I already have. I told her that. I told her I wasn't going to push her because that's what my parents did to me and well you know how that turned out. I couldn't lose Rory like that and only speak to her on holidays like I did with my parents," Lorelai replied. "That would hurt too much."

"I understand," Luke replied. "I am glad that you talked to her. I'm proud of you for telling her."

"She deserved to know," Lorelai said.

Luke nodded, "Yeah she did."

Lorelai looked up at Luke and smiled, "Hurry up with my fries, I'm starving. I actually skipped the food court in the mall because I really wanted fries here."

"I'll go check on them," Luke said before turning to walk away.

* * *

Jess found himself driving towards Stars Hollow. A place he had so carefully avoided since his mother's wedding, the same time that he asked Rory to drop everything and run away with him. He realized not long after he left that asking Rory to go away with him was insane. It didn't matter that he wanted to be with her and wanted to be with her away from Stars Hollow, Rory just wasn't the type to drop everything and run away with him. She was at Yale. She needed to be at Yale. Yale was her thing. The books Luke had gave him helped him realize that the person he should be with was Rory. Yet, the last time they talked was not the time for them.

His reason for going back to Stars Hollow after all this time was that he was now the somewhat proud author of a book. Something that he knew he could not have done if it wasn't for Rory. He wasn't going to try and win her back, he was more mature now and realized that he couldn't necessarily force things to happen. He just wanted to share his success with her. He needed to tell her about his book. She was his biggest inspiration after all.

Jess had just passed through Hartford and was on the road to Stars Hollow, knowing that since school had not started back yet that Rory would probably be at home spending time with her Mom, when he passed by a group of people doing community service on the side of the road. Most of the people looked like people you would assume to have to perform community service but one person in particular caught his eye. Her hair was longer now and pulled back into a ponytail but he recognized that face anywhere.

Jess passed by the community service workers before he parked his car on the side of the road. He left his book in the passenger seat as he exited the car and walked towards the community service workers. Rory turned around to say something to Lisa when she spotted a familiar figure walking towards her. Their eyes locked, she was unable to look away from the person she least expected to see.

Rory was the first one to speak, "Jess," she said softly confused as to why he was here and a little embarrassed by the community service vest she was wearing.

"Hey," Jess replied.

"Hey," Rory said. She glanced around everyone seemed to be winding down for the day. Her gaze locked back on Jess, they both stared at each other for a few minutes.

Jess couldn't help but ask, "What's this?" he asked nodding towards the trash-bag she held in her hands.

Rory shrugged her shoulders, "Just decided to pick up trash on the side of the road, you know for the environment. Reduce, reuse, and recycle. Clean up the earth, all of that," she rambled on. "What are you doing here?"

"I was heading towards Stars Hollow," Jess replied, "I wanted to talk; to show you something," he said just now realizing he left his book in the car. "Is this community service?" Jess asked, "Something for school?"

"Well…." Rory trailed off. "It's a long story."

"I have time, I'm in town for a little while," Jess replied. "We can go get some coffee, you still drink coffee right?"

Rory let a small smile slip out, "I still drink coffee."

"Then can we get coffee when you're done here?" Jess asked.

"Actually I have to go to the nursing home now but we can meet up after that," Rory suggested.

"Luke's?" Jess suggested. He was going to be there anyways, it felt right to meet up in Stars Hollow.

Rory shifted uncomfortably. She really did want to go back to Stars Hollow especially after learning that her mother was expecting but there was still something holding her back. "Umm, maybe we should meet somewhere else," she said. She thought quickly and added on, "Just somewhere without Miss Patty, Babette."

"Or Taylor," Jess interrupted.

"Right," Rory answered with a slight chuckle.

Rory gave him directions to a little café in Hartford that she discovered. It was secluded, not very well-known and would provide an atmosphere for them to talk. Before he left, he gave Rory his cellphone number just in case it was needed. He walked away from Rory, got into his car, and drove away headed towards Stars Hollow. After all he did need to go see his Uncle Luke and maybe try to weasel out the details on why Rory was acting so strange.

* * *

**Up next: Jess in Stars Hollow with Luke/Lorelai. And more Jess with Rory.**

**Reviews are welcomed and appreciated, they inspire me.**


	6. This isn't you

**Thanks for all the feedback!**

**Disclaimer: in first chapter..**

* * *

"This is what I ordered?" Lorelai asked looking down in disgust at the chili-cheese fries topped with pickle slices. She pushed the plate away from her. "I don't think that's what I ordered."

"Why would I even fix you that unless you asked for it?" Luke asked. He crossed his arms, "If I fixed you something I would have fixed you a salad. But this is what you asked for. This is what you wanted."

Lorelai looked at the plate still with a look of disgust on her face, "Well I'm not eating that." Looking at the food caused a wave of nausea to wash over her, she placed her hand over her mouth, "Please take that away." Her words came out muffled but Luke still understood her.

"I'll take the fries if she doesn't want them," Kirk piped up as he sat at the end of the counter on the left of Lorelai.

Luke picked up the plate and deposited it in front of Kirk. Lately he had dealt with her pregnancy cravings, her going from absolutely craving one thing to finding it disgusting just a few short minutes later. Cravings came along with the territory of being pregnant Luke knew but still trying to find something she would eat and not make her feel sick could be a bit of a challenge. Lorelai just laughed it off remembering just how insane Sookie drove Jackson during both of her pregnancies.

Luke stopped in front of Lorelai who was now feeling noticeably less nauseous than before. He sighed deeply, "Is there something you want now? Something that you're going to want when I'm finished making it?"

Lorelai leaned down on the counter and started to think about what she wanted. Sure, she still craved apples like she did with Rory but these babies seemed to make her crave all kinds of fruit. Luke was their father after all, so the whole fruit thing wasn't surprising. "Strawberry milkshake?"

Luke nodded, "Okay but I don't have strawberry ice cream here. I have vanilla ice cream and strawberries, I could make you a strawberry milkshake that way."

Lorelai grinned, "That sounds even better babe. I'll take one of those."

Luke still not used to her sudden liking of fruit was taken aback, "Really? That sounds good?"

Lorelai nodded eagerly, "Yes it does, and it would sound even better with extra whipped cream and a few extra strawberries on the side."

Luke pointed a finger at her, "Okay but no changing your mind this time."

Lorelai nodded and held up three fingers, "Scout's honor."

Luke crossed his arms, "You were a Girl Scout?"

"Nooooo," Lorelai said drawn out, "But it still counts. I promise to drink the milkshake like you asked me too." She paused, "Wow I never thought you would make me promise to drink a milkshake."

"The only time," Luke replied before disappearing into the kitchen.

Kirk leaned over the few stools that separated him and Lorelai, "You have excellent taste; these fries are amazing. I'm going to see if Luke will put them on the menu permanently."

"Uhh good luck with that then," Lorelai replied knowing that if she couldn't get Luke to put chili-cheese pringles on the menu then Kirk wasn't going to get him to put the chili-cheese fries with pickles on the menu.

Kirk leaned back up and continued to snack on his fries. "Hey Luke," he called out when he spotted Luke walking out of the kitchen with a milkshake and a bowl.

"The answer is no Kirk," Luke replied setting the milkshake and small bowl of strawberries in front of Lorelai. She smiled, thanked him, and began to drink the milkshake.

"You don't even know what I was going to ask," Kirk whined.

Luke turned towards Kirk, "The answer is still no." He turned back towards Lorelai and leaned down on the counter, "How's your milkshake?"

"Mm it's perfect," Lorelai replied. "Exactly what I needed."

Luke smiled and patted the spot on the counter next to Lorelai, "Good, I'm glad."

As Luke left to go take care of the other customers, Lorelai grabbed her milkshake and turned around on her stool. She leaned back against the counter and watched the interactions between the various diner patrons. Miss Patty and Babette were in the corner most likely spreading the latest gossip around. Lulu walked into the diner and joined Kirk at the counter. Only a few other people were in the diner, it was normal for this time in the afternoon. Soon things would pick up for the dinner rush.

Lorelai was just scraping out the last remnants of her milkshake and about to turn around to finish off the bowl of strawberries when the bells above the door jingled. For some reason she felt compelled to look up and when she did, she locked eyes with the dark-haired surly guy that broke her daughter's heart. Needless to say she still wasn't his biggest fan and probably would never be.

"Jess!" Luke exclaimed as he walked over to the young guy. He welcomed him with a pat on the shoulder, "What are you doing here?"

"I was close by," Jess answered. He looked up and noticed Lorelai staring him down, her eyes practically boring into him. He wasn't stupid, he knew Lorelai didn't like him. She never really did. But he had changed from the teenager she once knew. He was more mature now.

Lorelai put on a polite but tight smile and greeted him, "Hey Jess."

"Hey Lorelai," Jess replied with a nod of his head.

"So how long are you in town for?" Luke asked as he led Jess over to the counter.

Jess set his bag on the edge of the counter and tried to avoid Lorelai's stare as he answered Luke's question, "Umm a few days, maybe? I need to be back at work on Monday."

"Well of course you know that you can stay in the apartment," Luke replied, "I'll be over at Lorelai's tonight."

Luke glanced between Lorelai and Luke, "So you two are together? Finally?" he asked. He knew that they were at his mother's wedding together and that Luke said things went well that night. He was happy for his uncle finally getting the girl that he wanted for the longest time.

Luke reached down onto the counter and took Lorelai's left hand in his, his thumb ran over her engagement ring, "We're engaged," he told Jess.

Jess crossed his arms, "So you proposed," he mused looking up at his uncle.

Lorelai stifled the laugh that threatened to rise up. She wasn't going to say anything about the proposal. However Kirk had a different idea as he piped up, "Actually Lorelai proposed to him."

"Shut up Kirk," Luke bellowed, his face turning red.

Lorelai laughed out loud as she watched the surprised look that crossed Jess' face. His surprise was followed by that infamous Jess smirk, "So you were proposed to? How did that feel?" he teased.

"Ok, ok, make all the jokes you want. The man is supposed to propose so what? She beat me to it," Luke replied. "Everyone in this damn town had made a joke about it so go ahead and make one if you want to."

"Oh hun," Lorelai said softly, "That doesn't make you any less of a man to me. I'll let you grunt, spit, burp, scratch yourself, you know the typical manly things if you need to prove your masculinity."

"Testy," Jess noted. This would be the time to make a wisecrack but sensing how irritated Luke already was on the subject he decided against it. "Congratulations," he offered to the couple.

Lorelai was surprised that he didn't make the wisecracks like he usually would, "Thanks."

Luke smiled, "Yeah thank you." He looked around finally and noticed that the townspeople were watching the interaction carefully. They weren't too big of fans of Jess either. Luke nodded his head towards the curtain, "Why don't we go upstairs and talk?"

Jess grabbed his bag from the counter, "Okay," he turned and began to walk upstairs.

"Are you coming?" Luke asked looking at Lorelai.

Lorelai arched an eyebrow, "You want me to?"

Luke shrugged his shoulders, "If you want to."

"Um, you know," Lorelai said, "I think I'll just head home. You two can talk. Besides that shopping really wore me out and now that I had my milkshake, I think I'll go home and take a nap. You can tell him about, you know," she made an ever-so slight gesture at herself down to her belly, "if you want."

Luke nodded, "Okay. I'll be by after I talk to Jess."

Lorelai smiled, "Paul Anka and I will be waiting," she leaned over the counter and kissed him quickly. "See you at home babe."

Luke gave an order to Cesar that he would be upstairs if he needed him before disappearing behind the curtain and heading up to his apartment. Jess was sitting on the couch but stood up when Luke entered.

Luke crossed the room to stand in front of Jess, "Not that I don't mind you stopping by, but why are you here?"

"I wanted to show you something," Jess replied. He dug through his bag that was on the coffee table and pulled out a small paperback book. He held it out towards Luke, "I wrote a book."

Luke's eyes widened. He took the book and read the cover to make sure that he heard Jess right, "_The Subsect_ by Jess Mariano." He looked back up at Jess who just shrugged his shoulders as if it was no big deal. "You wrote a book?"

"A short novel," Jess replied.

Luke glanced down at the book he was holding. A feeling of pride rushed through him. It was similar to the feeling he had the first time he went to the doctor with Lorelai and saw his baby on the ultrasound. He stepped forward and hugged Jess quickly, "I'm proud of you."

"It's no big deal," Jess said. "I'm sure they were high when they decided to publish it. There's only 500 printed so no real money in it. I'm trying to get independent bookstores to sell it."

"This is a big deal," Luke insisted. "You wrote a book. That's great Jess, it really is."

"That's your copy, you're one of the first to get one," Jess said. He also had a special copy saved just for Rory.

"Let me at least pay you for it," Luke replied reaching for his wallet.

Jess shook his head, "I already owe you money, which I am still going to pay back. This is a gift."

Luke sighed, "This is great Jess," he repeated.

Jess tried to brush off his uncle's comments about the book he authored. Luke was so proud and kept wanting to tell Jess that but Jess didn't want anyone to make a big deal out of it, he didn't think it was that great a book after all. Sure he spent time going over it and never expected it to be published but it was and now Luke was making a bigger deal out of it then Jess thought he should have. He decided to flip topics and focus on his uncle's news that he just found out about.

"So, um…when's the big day?" Jess asked.

Luke cleared his throat, "Well we're waiting on that. We haven't planned anything yet there's been a couple of unexpected circumstances so we're waiting to start planning."

Confused by his uncle's almost cryptic message, Jess asked, "What's going on? Is everything okay?"

"Well one reason that we're waiting is because, well…Lorelai's pregnant," Luke replied.

Jess' eyes widened, "She's pregnant? You're going to be a dad?" he asked. Luke nodded in response. "Wow, congratulations Uncle Luke."

Luke reached in his back pocket for his wallet. He opened it and slid the black-and-white ultrasound picture out. Since he and Lorelai were still keeping this to themselves, he was proud to be able to actually show the picture to someone.

Luke stood beside Jess with the picture in his hands, "We're going to have twins," he said pointing out both of the babies.

Jess stared at the grainy black and white image, "You're going to be a great dad you know. Those kids are lucky to have you." He looked up at his uncle who had a goofy but proud looking smile on his face. "I mean that, I really do."

"Thank you Jess."

Jess replied with a shake of his head, "No problem."

Luke put the picture back in his wallet. He sighed deeply, "I don't know. I don't know anything about babies," he said as he began to doubt himself. "I don't know if I can be a dad."

"You're going to be a great dad," Jess repeated. "You tried your best with me."

"And then you left."

"I was lost," Jess replied, "But I don't think I would be where I'm at now if you didn't take me in. You helped me out."

This was one of those special uncle/nephew moments they shared over the years where after a few minutes it felt a little uncomfortable. Jess was supposed to throw out snarky comments while Luke replied back with something just as snarky but every once in a while they had the special bonding moments where their love and understanding for one another was really clear.

Jess was the first one to speak up, "So…what's going on with Rory?"

"How do you know something is going on with Rory?"

"On the way here, I saw her doing community service, she wasn't acting like Rory."

"Yeah," Luke replied. He took his hat off and ran a hand through his hair, "That's another reason why we're waiting. Lorelai wants things to be right with Rory."

"What's going on?"

"It's a little complicated," Luke replied.

Luke and Jess sat down on the couch as Luke began explaining the past few weeks and what Lorelai and Rory were going through. He kept major details to himself just alluding to the fact that Rory was staying at her grandparents for the summer and that she and Lorelai weren't talking, save for the fact that Lorelai reached out today to speak to her. This was not the Rory that Jess knew, not his Rory. Something strange was going on, strange could be associated with Gilmore girls but this was different. Rory was obviously going through something if she and Lorelai were not talking to one another.

* * *

After awaking from her mid-afternoon nap, Lorelai walked downstairs to see if Luke was back from the diner yet. Her nose alerted her that Luke was busy in the kitchen cooking their dinner. On her way to the kitchen she spotted a small book on the table. Curious and knowing that the book wasn't hers, she picked it up and was surprised at whose name graced the cover of the book.

"Um Luke," Lorelai said as she walked into the kitchen, "Why am I holding a book that has Jess listed as the author?"

"You picked it up," Luke deadpanned.

Lorelai rolled her eyes, "Ha-ha. But seriously _The Subsect_ by Jess Mariano? He wrote a book?"

Luke nodded, "He wrote a book."

"He really wrote a book?" Lorelai asked, "This isn't some elaborate ruse that he has planned? Trying to trick everyone into believing that he wrote a book?"

"What? No, he really wrote a book. That's why he is in town, he is trying to get some bookstores to pick it up and sell it," Luke explained. "But he really did write a book. He's an author. He said that didn't print a lot of copies but still he wrote a book."

Lorelai leaned against the counter next to the stove as she started to flip through the book, "Huh."

Luke put the lid on a pot of sauce before he turned to face Lorelai, "I told him about the pregnancy."

"I told you that it was fine if you told him Luke," Lorelai replied.

"He said congratulations and that he thought I was going to be a great dad," Luke confessed.

Lorelai took a deep breath, "I can't believe I'm going to say this but," she closed her eyes and braced herself to utter the next few words, "I agree with Jess." She let out the deep breath she was holding, "God, I can't believe I actually said those words and don't you dare tell anyone that I said I agreed with Jess."

Luke chuckled at the obvious pain it took her to say that statement, "It will be our little secret."

"Good." Lorelai sat the book down on the counter. "But he was right, you are going to be a great dad. One of the best if I do say so myself, but then again I may be a little bit biased."

"I don't…"

Lorelai shook her head and interrupted him, "No, you're not going to doubt yourself. I'm not going to let you. You're going to make a great dad. Trust me. Look Jess wrote a book and I'm not his biggest fan, never have been, but you were a big part in him doing this. A lot of whatever he is doing is because of you. Because you took him in and tried with him. You were there for him when no one else was. That's what he needed. You were that person. So if you think that you're not going to make a great dad, an amazing dad, than you're a fool."

Luke grabbed her hand and placed a soft kiss on it, "Thank you."

Lorelai smiled and shrugged her shoulders dismissively, "It's what I'm here for." She hopped up on the counter and crossed her legs. "That's all Jess came to town for? The book?" she asked. Jess and Rory always had a connection since the first time they met; his town visits seemed to tie Rory in some way.

Luke placed his hand over her knee, "He also asked about Rory. On his way into town, he saw her doing community service."

"Oh…"

"I told him a little about what's going on, really just that she's staying with her grandparents and that you two aren't exactly talking," Luke replied. "Is that…um…is that okay?"

"I guess. I mean…its fine." She looked up at Luke, "Like you said you're in the middle so you're a part of this, he was always close with Rory even if I didn't like that," she added in. "But if you thought it was okay to tell him than I guess its fine." She glanced over at the pots on the stove, "So what's for dinner?"

"Nice segue," Luke replied turning his attention back to the food.

"I try," Lorelai replied, "But you should hurry up with dinner because I'm starving. See now I'm in charge of myself and two babies that I have to feed so I'm going to need triple the amount of food."

Luke chuckled, "You already eat enough to feed three people."

"Well in that case make enough to feed six people and then yourself," Lorelai said, "Whatever you're making smells really good and I don't feel nauseous right now so hurry up with dinner."

* * *

Jess walked into the café that he and Rory had agreed to meet at. It took him a few minutes but he finally spotted the familiar brunette at a corner table. Of course she already had a cup of coffee in front of her and was talking on the phone. Jess sat down across from her and waited for her phone conversation to end. She smiled apologetically as she pressed the end button.

"Sorry about that," Rory apologized. "I got here a little early so I already ordered coffee. But I waited for you to see if you wanted anything to eat." She went to say something else but at that point she would be rambling so she just stopped.

Jess waved her off, "It's fine Rory."

"So…" Rory said, she shifted around nervously in her seat. Having not seen Jess since the night that he asked her to run away with him, she felt awkward around him.

Jess noted her squirming and how she was staying silent trying not to meet his gaze, "Are you nervous?" he asked.

Rory nodded, Jess was always one to pick up on her little cues, "Yeah, a little," she admitted. "It's been a while."

"I'm a little nervous, too."

"Why are you in town?" Rory asked changing the subject, she was trying to avoid any awkward lulls in their conversation.

"I'm in town on business," Jess replied.

Rory arched an eyebrow, "Business?"

Before Jess could reply the waitress walked over to their table. Jess ordered a coffee while quickly flipping through the menu trying to find something to order. He and Rory both ordered a turkey sandwich with Rory also ordering a refill on her coffee. Once the waitress left, Rory turned back to Jess.

"So you're in town on business?" Rory asked.

Jess nodded, "Yeah business and I wanted to show you something."

"Right. You said that."

Jess reached into the small black bag he carried into the café with him and pulled out a book, "Yeah, and I didn't think you'd believe it if I didn't show it to you in person," he said as he passed off the book to Rory.

Rory grabbed the book from his hands and read the cover aloud, "_The Subsect_," she glanced up at Jess and locked eyes with him, "By Jess Mariano," she finished, a questioning look in her eyes.

"It's no misprint."

"You actually wrote a book?" Rory questioned running her fingers along the edge of the pages.

Jess shrugged his shoulders dismissively, "A short novel at best." Since Rory was now absorbed in flipping through the pages he continued on, "And through a fluke, I got it to these guys that have a small press, and they read it. I don't know if they were high or something, but they decided to publish it."

Rory listened on while still flipping through the book reading a few phrases here and there as Jess talked about the book, explaining there wasn't much money in it and since it was author distributed he was going to have to get bookstores to sell it himself. When he mentioned that a few bookstores already agreed to sell it, she perked up.

"Which bookstores?" Rory asked. "I want to see it in a store."

"I can give you the addresses."

Rory smiled and told her Jess her plan of moving the books to the staff recommended section and writing just a small blurb about the book recommending it to anyone who looked at it. She watched Jess with a newfound pride in him. Not that she didn't think he was capable of something like this because he was, he just needed to focus himself. He had to break out of that teenage shell of someone who seemed not to care and grow up. And he did just that. It was more than she could say for her boyfriend Logan, he still hadn't seemed to want to focus on anything really. He and Jess were polar opposites.

"So, uh…" Jess stumbled nervously, "I wanted to tell you that I couldn't have done it without you."

Rory's heart fluttered, especially with that smile he was giving her. She silently cursed it, reminding herself that she had a boyfriend and a heart fluttering at some sweet words by someone who isn't your boyfriend and also happens to be your ex may not be the best thing.

"Thanks," Rory replied quietly.

The waitress dropped by with their food seemingly interrupting the moment between the two; if it was even a moment. The silence that had formed stayed between the couple as they both picked at their food, neither one completely interested in the sandwich before them.

"That's the second copy I've given out," Jess said suddenly.

Rory's eyebrows furrowed, "What?"

Jess cleared his throat, "The book. It's the second copy I gave out. You were going to be the first to get one but I stopped by Stars Hollow and gave one to Luke."

Rory nodded, "Oh. Well I still feel special about getting the second copy. So did he tell you about him and mom?"

Jess nodded, "He told me about him and Lorelai. Among other things," he said giving her a knowing gaze.

Rory ducked her head, "So, you know about…."

"That you're staying with your grandparents right now and not speaking to your mom?" Jess asked. "He mentioned something about that."

"Yeah…" Rory trailed off.

"How long are you planning on staying at your grandparents?"

Rory shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know."

"Until the summer is over, until you go back to Yale? Doesn't that start back soon?" Jess questioned.

"I'm taking time off from Yale," Rory admitted in a whisper.

"Time off," Jess repeated. "That's not you."

"It's what I've done though."

"All of this isn't you. You're living with your grandparents, not talking to your mom, apparently taking time off from Yale," Jess sighed and leaned forward closer to Rory, "This isn't you," he said softly.

Rory had to admit to herself that he was right. This wasn't her. Not talking to her mom or being able to call her at the end of the day to complain about community service was not right. She knew her mom was one of the most stubborn people in the world but she did stop by earlier today to tell her about her future siblings and told her that she could call anytime, that meant something. Throw that in with the fact that Lorelai was basically welcoming her home by saying it was there waiting made her really think about going home. She wanted to. She missed her mom and Luke. And Luke's coffee. And now her mom was pregnant and she wanted to be there for the rest of her pregnancy. Someone would need to be there for Luke to help him deal with a now pregnant and possibly more hormonal Lorelai. Plus she wanted to be there for the start of her mother's middle, it would be the start of her new family as well.

Rory's voice came out quiet and soft, "I know."

"Then why are you doing this?" Jess asked.

Rory blinked back a few tears and made a sniffling sound, "I don't know." She pushed her plate away from her, "I should go." She gathered her bag and Jess' book, stood up from the table, and began to walk away.

Jess grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards him, "I didn't mean to upset you."

"I know." Rory pulled her hands out of Jess' grasp. "I really should go though. Emily stops by the pool-house some nights and if I'm not there she freaks out."

Jess nodded, "Okay. Can we talk again? I'm in town for a little while."

"Tomorrow," Rory promised before walking off.

* * *

**Feedback is always welcomed and in fact encouraged. Hope you enjoyed!**


	7. The Prodigal Daughter Returns

**Thanks for all the feedback, glad you are still enjoying the story!**

* * *

The next morning Rory stood in the middle of the pool-house gazing around at her stuff that was laying around. Her talk with Jess the night before led her to see some harsh truths. This: the pool-house, living with her grandparents, not speaking to her mom and telling herself that she was taking time off from Yale, was not her. Jess saw that. Jess saw that and told her that this wasn't her. There was something in his eyes or just the way he said it that made her realize that he was right. This wasn't her.

After dinner with Jess last night, she came back to the pool-house where she endured a pretty much sleepless night. Jess' voice saying 'this isn't you' and 'why are you doing this?' floated through her head all night. Of course this wasn't her, she knew that but it wasn't as simple as just going directly back into her old life. She now felt as she was a different person, someone that wasn't so sure of where exactly she was headed. But to most people that was a part of the quintessential college experience, finding out who you are. To Rory it was just frightening, she always knew what she wanted. Harvard was always her choice but then she chose Yale. Journalism was always her career choice but then she was told that she wasn't cut out for her chosen career. Going back to Stars Hollow wouldn't fix everything but it would be a start.

Rory was about to start trying to pack at least a few things but was distracted as the door to the pool-house opened up. She dropped the shirt in her hands down onto the table and turned around to face her visitor knowing most likely it was either one of her grandparents or some of the help Emily hired.

"Hey Grandma," Rory greeted when she spotted her grandmother standing in front of the door, "Did you need something?"

Emily crossed the room, "I just came to tell you that your grandfather and I will not be here for dinner tonight. I know we still did dinners on Friday nights but we have plans with some friends of ours. I can still tell the cook to make you something if you want."

"Oh no that's fine," Rory replied. "I can find something on my own."

"Are you sure?" Emily questioned.

Rory nodded, "I'm sure Grandma. I'll go somewhere and get something for myself. I'll be fine."

"As long as you're sure," Emily replied. "If you change your mind I'm sure Greta will make you something."

"Marie," Rory added.

"What?" Emily asked.

"Her name is Marie not Greta," Rory replied.

"Oh well, Marie, Greta," Emily said shrugging her shoulders, "All the same. Your grandpa is working and I'm headed off to do a little shopping would you like to go with me?"

"Actually, I have some community service hours today so I can't," Rory replied.

"Very well, I'll see you later then."

Emily dismissed herself from the pool-house. She had only been gone a few minutes when there was a knock at the door. Rory sighed and stopped herself from trying to pack up some of her things and went to answer the door. She was taken aback to find Jess standing on the other side of the door.

"W-w-what are you doing here?" Rory stammered.

Jess held up the bag in his hand along with a to-go coffee cup, "I brought breakfast."

"Um, okay," Rory replied still slightly confused as to why Jess brought her breakfast. Even so she stepped aside and motioned for him to come in. "No one saw you right? You didn't see my grandma?"

"I saw her leaving," Jess replied as he walked in.

Rory shut the door behind her and watched Jess curiously, "You brought me breakfast."

Jess nodded as he set the bag down, "Right. I figured that with you not being in Stars Hollow you were probably missing breakfast from Luke's." He walked towards her and handed over the coffee cup, "So I brought breakfast."

Rory took a sip of the coffee and smiled, Jess was right she did miss breakfast from Luke's especially the coffee. She crossed the room, sat down on the couch, and began to pick at the muffins that Jess had pulled out of the bag. Jess joined her on the couch and told her that Luke or Lorelai didn't know that he was here this morning, Luke wasn't at the diner when Jess left.

"So no one knows you're here but I'm still wondering why you're here. I did miss the breakfast food but you didn't have to bring me anything," Rory said between bites of muffin.

"Well the breakfast is only part of the reason why I came..." Jess replied.

Rory nodded, "Right last night you said you wanted to talk again."

"I hope it's okay that I'm here."

"It's fine." She sipped at her coffee again. Her eyes flickered up and she locked eyes with Jess, "So..."

"What's going on with you Rory?" Jess asked suddenly.

Rory sighed, "Just jump right in with a loaded question."

Jess shrugged his shoulders as if him asking the question meant nothing, "I just care about you Rory," he said sincerely.

Rory smiled slightly, genuinely touched that he cared so much that he was willing to bring her breakfast just to butter her up to talk about what she was going through. Logan was still away in Europe and whenever they talked lately they seemed to avoid the topic of Yale. She had told him that she did not want to talk about it with anymore with anyone but here was Jess wanting to talk about Yale and everything that happened over the past weeks and she felt herself caving in.

There was a moment of silence before Rory suddenly jumped up from the couch and began pacing around the room launching into the details of everything that had happened recently. Jess followed her and took the coffee cup from her making sure that she would not spill the liquid on herself even though it was probably room temperature by now having survived the ride from Stars Hollow. Still he wanted to make sure that she didn't make a mess.

As Rory ranted through subjects revolving around Mitchum telling her that she did have what it took to be a journalist, her stealing a yacht and then subsequently getting arrested for stealing the yacht, the conversation that took place with her mom about dropping out of Yale and then coming to live with her grandparents, all Jess could do was listen. Now he knew that Gilmores could ramble, that trait was up there with their consumption of junk food, love of coffee, and their pop culture references, but this was the longest rant that he had ever heard Rory go on. He was sure that she was going to pass out as it seemed that she didn't even stop to take a breath let alone let him get a word in.

As she spoke, vent, ranted, whatever you wanted to call it, Rory felt as if a weight was lifted off her shoulders. Jess was one person who always just seemed to get her and being able to share this with him just felt right. Her grandparents knew of the situation but they rarely talked about it. So being able to share this and get everything out into the open was freeing. Sure her mom knew everything as well but she played the mom card and told her that she was not dropping out of Yale or spending her time out of school bumming around Stars Hollow which all led her to here. But this was Jess and she had just practically told him everything and felt no regrets about how much she shared.

As Rory collapsed down in a chair most likely processing everything she had just told him, Jess looked for the right words to say. For that most part he was shocked at everything that Rory just shared with him. She mentioned Logan as her boyfriend and he seemed like the type of person that he and Rory used to make fun of, he had no idea what she was doing with him. It seemed she was somewhat on a downward spiral, a downward spiral that only Rory Gilmore could be on.

"So you stole a yacht?" Jess asked, "Stars Hollow's Rory who got the video store censored for a little while stole a yacht?"

Rory shook her head at the smirk on Jess' face, "All of that and that's what you focus on?" She tried to act mad but couldn't. Sitting here with Jess almost felt like old times, back in high school times.

Jess shrugged his shoulders, "I just didn't know you turned to a life of crime recently."

Rory groaned, "It was one thing, one stupid thing that I regret and now that I have community service for."

"To me that Mitchum guy sounds like a complete ass. He doesn't know what's he talking about, you do have what it takes to be a journalist," Jess replied.

Rory was going to object but decided against it when she realized that it would only lead to an argument between her and Jess with her denying whatever he said. Instead she took a different approach, "Do you really think that?"

"As long as I've known you this is what you wanted," Jess replied. "And you shouldn't let one person ruin what you're destined for."

Rory couldn't help but take a little dig at him, "Hm someone thinks that is he now introspective since he became an author."

"It just a few copies of one book," Jess said.

"Hey it's one more book than I have written," Rory replied.

"You need to prove that Mitchum guy wrong, show him you do have what it takes to be a journalist because you really do Rory," Jess replied. "His opinion shouldn't matter."

The look on his face made Rory believe every word he said. He saw that she had what it takes and so did her mom, right now they were her two biggest supporters. She still wanted to be a journalist, that was all she ever wanted to be. She couldn't imagine another career for herself. Jess was right, she had to prove Mitchum wrong.

"Thank you," Rory said sincerely.

"No problem," Jess replied.

Rory leaned forward placing her head in her hands. She sighed deeply. "I think I need to get out of this pool-house."

"Do you want to go somewhere else or do you want me to leave?" Jess asked.

Rory shook her head as she looked up at Jess, "No I meant that I need to get out of this pool-house and go back to Stars Hollow. You're right, this," she said gesturing around the pool-house. "Isn't me."

"Your mom and Luke will be happy about that," was all Jess could say.

Rory glanced up at the clock and realized that she was now running late for community service, "Oh shoot, you do have to leave now though. I mean I don't want to kick you out but I do have to leave. I have community service."

"Oh okay," Jess replied. "I guess I'll see you later then, maybe."

Rory nodded, "Yeah, maybe."

Rory showed Jess to the door and told him not to mention anything about this talk with her mom or Luke, which she wasn't sure why she even said it about her mom since those two did not get along. Of course Jess said that this would stay between them. After Jess left, Rory took one last look around the pool-house before dashing around to gather her things for community service.

* * *

Lorelai strolled through the front door of the Inn making her way towards the kitchen. She walked past Sookie and Michel who were arguing over the way Sookie prepared Michel's breakfast. Sookie assured him that she prepared it exactly the way he had asked her to but Michel was sure that she had snuck extra fat in there just to mess with him. Lorelai fixed herself a cup of coffee, since Luke had really managed to hide the coffee this morning, and leaned back against the counter as she watched them. After a few minutes, Michel left in a huff with his breakfast plate.

Sookie looked up and noticed that Lorelai had entered the kitchen, "Oh hey Lorelai. I didn't even hear you come in."

"Well you and Michel were busy arguing, I swear I can't leave you two alone for more than two seconds," Lorelai replied. "You're like a couple of kids."

"Just preparing you for your future," Sookie replied her finger pointing at Lorelai's midsection.

"Ha-ha," Lorelai replied. "This whole Luke hiding the coffee thing has gone a little too far. I couldn't find the coffee this morning and I'm great at finding the coffee. I'm sure that he and Paul Anka are in cahoots."

Sookie laughed, "Cahoots, that's a funny word."

Lorelai laughed as well, "I guess so." She sipped at her coffee again. "So...I talked to Rory yesterday."

"Talked talked?" Sookie asked. "Or talked like that time you said you talked to her when you saw her doing community service on the side of the road?"

"Talked talked," Lorelai answered. "I told her about the um...pregnancy," she said after making sure that none of the kitchen staff was listening, not like they cared about her personal life anyways.

Sookie gasped, "You told her. That's great!"

"It's a start at least," Lorelai replied. "She was happy."

"Well of course she was happy. She should be happy, this is a happy time. I'm happy," Sookie replied with a grin that showed she wasn't lying. "You're happy, Luke's happy. Everyone is happy. You are happy right?"

"Of course I'm happy. I would be even happier if this morning sickness went completely away. I felt fine yesterday but this morning I feel a little nauseous and still a little tired. I forgot that the first trimester was like this," Lorelai replied. "It's been so long since I had a kid."

"Oh yeah that's not good. But that all goes away. I mean I never really had morning sickness with mine but it doesn't last that long," Sookie said, "At least I think it doesn't."

"It doesn't," Lorelai replied. "No you didn't get sick, you just got very emotional. We have to hide all the magazines from you and be very careful of what movies you watch."

Sookie laughed and nodded her head, "That is true."

Lorelai sighed, "I guess I should actually get to work." She finished off the rest of her coffee in her cup and set it down on the counter. "See ya later Sookie."

"Okay bye hun," Sookie replied as Lorelai exited the kitchen.

Walking out of the kitchen, Lorelai headed to the front desk where Michel was currently busy with some guests. She flashed them a complimentary smile and stepped in when Michel was beginning to get frustrated with their questions. After the couple was whisked away and led to their room, Michel turned towards Lorelai.

"You and Sookie are keeping something from me," Michel said.

Lorelai flipped through the mail that was stacked at the front desk, "We are not keeping anything from you," she replied. "You know the things that Sookie and talk about like my engagement. What else could I be keeping from you?"

Michel narrowed his eyes, "I know that you two are keeping something from me. You two are always keeping something from me, whispering behind my back like I don't see you two."

Lorelai laughed, the only thing she was keeping from him was the news of her pregnancy which she was keeping from pretty much everyone but he would know soon enough. "We're just talking about how much we love you Michel." She puckered her lips and blew a kiss in his direction, "We do love you Michel."

Michel rolled his eyes, "Sometimes I don't know why I put up with you two."

Lorelai smiled, "Because you love us too Michel," she paused for just a moment, "And if you didn't put up with us you would be out of a job."

"I'm taking my break," Michel replied.

"Good," Lorelai replied, "Now there's no one to scare away the guests," she called to Michel's retreating figure before she went back to sorting through the mail and opening up the most important pieces first.

* * *

Later that night, Rory finished loading a few bags into her car. After getting home from community service that afternoon, she cemented her decision that she was headed back to Stars Hollow, back to her home. She set to go back tonight. She left a note on a counter in the pool-house alerting her grandparents that she was going to be in Stars Hollow with her mother in case they came by looking for her when they got back from their dinner. She planned to come back tomorrow to get the rest of her things but this would have to do for tonight. She was ready to go home, ready to reunite with her mother, and take those steps in order to get back to Yale.

Rory took one last look at the pool-house before climbing in her car and driving to Stars Hollow.

Back in Stars Hollow, Lorelai was sitting around the house trying to find something to do. Luke was working late tonight and would probably stop by once he got home from work. It seemed he was spending most nights at her house lately except for the times that he had to open then he spend time at his apartment.

Lorelai grabbed the remote and flipped through the TV channels twice before deciding that there as nothing on TV. She plopped the remote down on the couch next to her and grabbed the magazine that was sitting on the coffee table. However the magazine was quickly thrown to the side when she found herself getting weepy at the latest celebrity break-ups, so much for making fun of Sookie for getting weepy over magazines she now found herself in the same boat. Pregnancy hormones were nothing to be messed with.

Lorelai smiled seeing Paul Anka enter the living room from the kitchen. She picked up his toy ball from the table and threw it across the room telling him to fetch only to have him watch the ball as it hit the ground and rolled across the floor. Deciding that she wanted a snack, Lorelai stood up from the couch and started to walk towards the kitchen. As she passed by the phone, it rang causing her to stop and pick it up.

"Hello?" Lorelai said into the phone.

"Mom!" Rory replied quickly.

Lorelai's brown furrowed, "Rory?"

"Well who else calls you Mom?" Rory asked, then she remembered the pregnancy, "Well I mean right now because soon there will be someone else calling you Mom."

"Two someone else's," Lorelai corrected.

"Right, twins. That's still so crazy," Rory replied. She cleared her throat, "So you meant what you said the other day, right?"

"What did I say?" Lorelai asked.

"Mom," Rory groaned, but her tone quickly changed, "That home is waiting for me anytime?"

"Of course I did babe," Lorelai replied. She practically started to bounce as she realized just exactly what Rory was trying to hint at, "Does this mean what I think it means? Are you coming home?" she asked excitedly.

"Look out the window," Rory replied. Lorelai could tell there was a smile on Rory's face at that moment.

Lorelai dashed to the window with phone still in hand. She threw back the curtain, her smile growing even wider when she noticed Rory's car pulling up into the yard, "Oh my God."

"What?" Rory asked.

"You just look so much more silver than I remembered," Lorelai replied. She let go of the curtain and made her way towards the front door.

Outside, Rory got out of the car with the phone pressed to her ear as she walked towards the house, "Now, come on. Is it too much to expect after a lengthy separation to get some sort of heartfelt greeting?" she asked.

Lorelai burst at the front door and ran down the steps towards Rory. The phone was thrown onto the lawn as she made her way towards her daughter. Rory broke out into a sprint the same time her mom did and did not stop until they were both in each others arms hugging one another tightly.

"I'm sorry," were the first words out of Rory's mouth.

"You're sorry? I'm sorry," Lorelai replied.

Rory sighed, "I was so mixed up."

"I should have pulled you out of there," Lorelai replied, "Or never actually let you get there."

"I was stupid," Rory said.

Lorelai shook her head, "No, I was stupid."

"I was more stupid."

"Oh boy," Lorelai sighed, "Time to get you back to Yale."

Rory smiled, "I love you Mom."

"Oh...kid you have no idea," Lorelai replied hugging Rory even tighter if possible. She placed a kiss on top of Rory's head.

After she finally managed to pull away, Rory stepped back a few feet and looked at her mother who was wiping tears away, she tilted her head to the side, "You okay?"

Lorelai smiled, "I'm great," she said wiping at another tear. "Just happy you're home and my hormones are in overdrive so hence the tears." She clapped her hands together excitedly, "We have to do something now that you're back. You are back for good, right?"

"Back for good until Yale starts back," Rory replied. "I'm going to call tomorrow and figure everything out."

Lorelai nodded, "Ohh movie night! We can pull an all-nighter, just like old times."

"Sounds great. So split the duties, I get movies, you get the food?" Rory asked.

Lorelai nodded excitedly, "Yes but only the guilty pleasures because we are talking during these movies."

Rory saluted her mother, "Got it."

Lorelai embraced Rory into another warm hug, "I'm so happy you're home kid."

Rory smiled, "Me too."

* * *

After helping Rory get the few things out of her car and being informed that half her stuff was still in the pool-house and they would need to get it tomorrow, Lorelai headed to the diner to share the good news with Luke. Luke was wiping down the counter as Lorelai burst in.

"Rory's back!" Lorelai shouted.

"What?" Luke asked looking up at Lorelai.

Lorelai crossed the counter and walked behind the counter, "She's back. She's back at home, she's going back to school when it starts back, and she did it all on her own," she said as she began to load donuts into a box. "She's getting us some movies now. We're going to pull a major all-nighter. We need burgers, fries, onion rings, and anything else you can think of." She walked over to Luke and kissed him quickly. "She's back."

"When did this happen?" Luke asked.

"Just now or like a few minutes ago," Lorelai replied hurriedly, "But she's back. Some of her things are already back in her room. My baby's back Luke."

Luke smiled, "She's back," he parroted. "This is great."

Lorelai nodded, "Of course it is! Oh, I'm going to go next door to Taylor's and get some ice cream. You get to cooking on our food mister," she said making her way towards the diner door.

"I'm throwing in healthy options for you," Luke replied making his way towards the kitchen.

"Always with the healthy options," Lorelai replied as she opened the door. She quickly turned back towards Luke, "Do not skimp on the fries. We don't want to lose her again."

Luke smiled, as happy as the news that Rory was back as Lorelai was, "I'm not skimping on the fries for Rory. But you are getting at the very least some carrots. You have to eat healthy."

"You are really trying to put a damper on this aren't you?" Lorelai asked. She sighed, "But actually carrots sound fine, you and your children are trying to turn me into a healthy eater." She spotted Rory walking down the sidewalk and now headed towards Doose's. "Hurry up with our food, I'll be back in a just a minute," she said before exiting the diner.

Lorelai waved excitedly to Rory before they both entered their second destinations of the evening preparing for the all-nighter to end all all-nighters.

* * *

**Rory's back! **

**To be continued...**

**Feedback is always welcomed.**


	8. Notes and Moving

**Thanks for the feedback! Your reviews really do mean the world to me, they are encouraging to keep up with this story.**

* * *

"Mom?" Rory called knocking on the bathroom door, "Are you sure you're okay? Do I need to call Luke or something?" she asked.

In the bathroom, Lorelai flushed the toilet, pushed herself up from the floor, and walked over to the sink. She grabbed her toothbrush and readied it with toothpaste before responding to Rory, "I'm fine, just give me a few minutes."

Lorelai waited for Rory's response until she began brushing her teeth. The all-nighter filled with guilty pleasure movies and junk food had definitely taken its toll. Even if she did eat a few of the healthy things that Luke threw into the bags of food he prepared for her and Rory; it was still no match for the morning sickness she felt. Generally though she would get sick once in the morning and feel better the rest of the day until around dinner time when she would get sick again. It was almost like clockwork at this point. But according to her doctor, morning sickness should end soon so she had that to look forward to.

Spitting out the last of the toothpaste, Lorelai ran her toothbrush under the running water then wiped the toothpaste from the corners of her mouth using the hand-towel next to the sink. She pushed away from the sink and opened the bathroom door to find Rory standing on the other side.

"I told you I was fine," Lorelai said as she walked out of the bathroom, "You didn't have to wait for me."

"We don't have to do anything today if you're sick," Rory replied following her mother down the hall and down the stairs.

"Its just morning sickness, it comes and goes, I'll be fine. We just need to get to the diner and get some pancakes," Lorelai replied. She got to the bottom of the stairs and stopped noticing that Paul Anka was out of hiding and sitting on the coffee table. "Behold Paul Anka."

"I was being to think that he didn't exist," Rory replied. She titled her head to the side, "Is he supposed to be on the table?"

"That's his favorite spot," Lorelai informed her daughter.

"How should I approach him?" Rory asked.

"Slowly," Lorelai replied. "Just follow me," she encouraged as she took a step into the living room.

After a bout of making Rory put sugar on her toes so Paul Anka would like her and then explaining that Paul Anka liked most people since all you really had to do was pet him, Lorelai and Rory were out the door headed towards the diner. In her hands, Lorelai held several notes that she had written to Rory over the past few weeks of everything that she wanted to share with her.

"Oh this is a new one! Kirk's got a new hobby, he's doing..." Lorelai said.

"Tai chai?" Rory said at the same time as her mother.

"How'd you know that?" Lorelai asked.

Rory pointed across the town square, "Because he's doing it right there," she replied.

Lorelai watched Kirk with a strange fascination for a few minutes, "Is it possible for him to do something without looking a little silly?" she finally asked.

"He wouldn't be Kirk then," Rory responded wisely.

A few unreadable notes later and they were standing in front of the diner. Rory went to reach for the door handle but Lorelai stopped her explaining that this was a big moment and that she would just have to wait outside for just a moment.

Lorelai entered the diner and was immediately greeted by Luke with a 'hey' and a quick kiss.

Lorelai smiled at Luke, "You ready?"

"For what?" Luke asked.

"For this," Lorelai declared. "The moment you've all been waiting for," she said before attempting to make a drum roll sound with her tongue.

"What's that?" Luke asked, a slight smirk on his face.

"It's a drum roll," Lorelai answered.

"It sounded more like a helicopter," Luke replied.

Lorelai sighed, trying not to roll her eyes at her fiance's obliviousness to the sound that was definitely a drum roll, "Well it's a drum roll, go with it, okay?" Luke mumbled his agreement. Lorelai put on her best announcer voice as she reached for the door handle, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Rory Gilmore," she said opening the door.

"Hi Luke!" Rory said happily as she entered the diner.

"Hey Rory, you're back," Luke said stepping forward to hug the young girl. It was an awkward hug but a hug none the less.

Rory smiled, "I'm back."

"Good! You look good. You look healthy, happy. Huh, here with your mom, both of you here. Yeah, it's great, you know. Yay!" An awkward pause fell between the three. Luke spoke up again. "I don't think I ever said yay before. It sounded weird."

Lorelai nodded and patted his arms sympathetically, "A little."

Luke ushered them to a table, "Sit, sit."

Lorelai and Rory sat down at the table. As they sat down, Lorelai saw Jess appear from behind the curtain that led upstairs. She glanced nervously over at Rory, "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Jess is in town," she said quietly.

Rory glanced up at Jess behind the counter, he wasn't paying her any attention as he served a customer. Last night she didn't tell her mom that she knew Jess was in town and that she had actually already talked to him, twice. She figured that her mom might have assumed they talked since Luke did inform Jess of what happened between them. Maybe her mom just wasn't putting the pieces together quite yet.

"Oh...yeah...I kind of knew that," Rory admitted. "We talked the other night."

"Oh..." Lorelai sighed, this was news to her. "Yeah, Luke did say something about Jess seeing you performing your community service so you should have known he was in town."

Luke spoke up interrupting Lorelai, "I'm going to bring you everything you like. I know what you like."

Rory smiled at Luke, "Sounds good."

"Oh hey," Lorelai chimed in. "I want those banana pancakes you made me the other day."

Luke nodded, "I can make those again. I'll be right back."

As soon as Luke left, Jess showed up at the table. He was careful on which coffee cup he placed in front of Lorelai. Since he was in town and helping out in the diner, Luke told him to make sure that Lorelai would get decaf coffee.

"Hey Rory," Jess said setting down her coffee cup; a hint of his infamous smirk on his face. He was happy to see her back here and once again talking with her mother.

"Hey Jess," Rory replied. She glanced over at her mother who was pretending not to watch the two as she sipped on her coffee.

"This is decaf," Lorelai stated looking up at Jess.

Jess shrugged his shoulders, "Luke's orders."

Once Jess walked away, Lorelai looked over at Rory. "So you talked with Jess."

Rory nodded, "Yeah."

Lorelai arched an eyebrow, "When did this happen?"

"The other day," Rory replied. "We had dinner," she explained further.

"Dinner?" Lorelai asked incredulously, "So was it like...a date or something?," she asked not too thrilled with the idea of her daughter and Jess again, besides Rory already had a boyfriend at least she thought she did, "I thought you were with Logan."

"I'm still with Logan," Rory explained. "It was just dinner as friends, no big deal." She sighed, not happy with the current topic of conversation. "Can we not talk about this now?"

Lorelai not wanting to anger her daughter as soon as they made up decided to not push the topic any further. For now at least. She pushed a few notes across the table to Rory. "These are ones I'm not reading aloud because of well...just read them to yourself."

Rory picked up the notes and read them curious to see what they would say and praying that the did not say anything dirty but knowing her mom the notes saying something dirty was a complete possibility.

On the back of a receipt that turned out to be from a pharmacy she had written: _3 positive tests. __Hope Luke doesn't freak out. _Also written on the same note: _no freak out, weird._

On a piece of paper from a magazine she had written: _Luke hid the coffee._

On a receipt from a pet store she had written: _Paul Anka. _Then added on at the bottom in a different color ink. _Doesn't like toys._

On what seemed to be a gum wrapper, she had written: _Morning sickness sucks. _

On a receipt for shampoo she had written: _Two babies! __Double the jam hands._

And finally on a napkin she had written: _Luke said I cannot name them both Lorelai. _

Rory smiled as she looked up at her mother. "I see why I had to read these notes."

"There's a lot more where that came from," Lorelai replied. She held up another napkin, "Like this one says, 'Not psychic.' Oh this is from when I told Sookie I was psychic over the phone and Luke eavesdropped on the call and told me I wasn't psychic."

"You think you're psychic?" Rory asked.

"I told you before that I was in touch with the other side," Lorelai replied. She picked up another gum wrapper. "This just says disgusting." She pondered the note for a moment, "Oh wait the gum I bought was disgusting. It was supposed to taste like chocolate but it tasted nothing like chocolate."

"You just wanted to keep me updated on the most important things, right?" Rory teased.

"Hey gum preference is an important thing," Lorelai replied. She stuffed the pile of notes back into her purse. "We can finish the rest of these later. I spot our food coming over here."

Luke and Jess walked to the table and set several plates down. Luke gestured towards the food, "I told you I would bring everything you like."

"Thank you," Rory said.

"No problem, tell me if you need anything else," Luke replied before turning and walking away with Jess following behind him.

Rory looked at all the food on their table, she sighed happily, "I've missed this."

Lorelai reached across the table and placed her hand on top of Rory's, "I've missed you kid."

Rory smiled, "I've missed you too."

* * *

Later that morning after an obligatory stop by the Inn to see Sookie and share the news that Rory was back with her, Lorelai and Rory walked back through the front door of the Crap Shack. Lorelai walked into the living room and collapsed on the couch.

"Hmm," Lorelai hummed as she placed her hand on her belly, "I'm so full. I think I'm in a pancake coma."

Rory laughed, pushing her mother's legs off the couch she sat down, "I don't think a pancake coma exists."

"So mean pushing my legs off the couch just so you can sit down," Lorelai replied pulling herself into a sitting position. "And pancake coma exists because I am in it." She groaned as the phone began ringing. "Can you get that?" she asked Rory.

Rory pushed up from the couch, "Home not even for 24 hours and you're already making answer the phone. Soon you'll have me doing your laundry."

"Aww no honey, Luke does that," Lorelai replied. "Just kidding, I do my own laundry, most of the time anyways."

Lorelai watched as Rory answered the phone. She was somewhat surprised to find that the person calling was Emily. Rory seemed to be explaining to Emily why she left Hartford and headed back to Stars Hollow. She explained that she was going back to Yale and would be by later to pick up her stuff. A few minutes later, Rory said goodbye and hung up the phone.

"That was grandma," Rory explained.

"I assumed," Lorelai replied. "I mean you did say the word grandma when talking to her. So I figured it was her or you just had a really weird pet name for Logan." She said his name with spite, she was not a fan of the guy.

Rory ignored the way her mother said Logan's name as she joined her back on the couch. "She read the note I left and wanted to know if me coming back to Stars Hollow was permanent or just for last night. I told her I was back here and planning on going back to Yale. She said if I had any problems that Grandpa could help me with Yale. I need to go by there to get my stuff today so I can bring it all back here."

Lorelai nodded her head as Rory spoke. "Do you need any help getting your things? I could go with you to get everything."

Rory crossed her arms, "You want to go to Grandma's?"

Lorelai sighed deeply, "I don't want to go to my parent's house, after everything including them going behind my back, but I will go with you if you need help getting their stuff. Just because we," she gestured between herself and Rory, "made up and you're back home doesn't mean I'm back on equally good terms with my parents."

"I went to them and I asked them to stay there," Rory replied. She shrugged her shoulders, "They just wanted to help and they thought that was for the best. Besides I'm back here now."

"So obviously their plan to kidnap you did not work out," Lorelai replied. "But they betrayed me and I'm just not suddenly back on good terms with them. Emily does know about the engagement though. She saw the ring on my finger that day I went to see you. She said congratulations."

Rory tilted her head to the side and asked, "Don't you say best wishes to the bride, isn't that what Grandma says?"

Lorelai rolled her eyes, "Who really knows? It may have been a dig at me for not telling her, or for the fact that it is Luke I'm marrying. They still don't approve. I can just imagine how she's going to react finding out that we're having a baby together without being married."

"But you're engaged to be married," Rory pointed out.

"Honey you know that's not the same thing to Emily Gilmore. All she'll be concerned about is the fact that we're not getting married until after the babies are born," Lorelai replied.

"Oh," Rory said rather dejectedly, "So you've already made wedding plans?"

"No, no," Lorelai assured her. She patted Rory's knee, "I have to have you to make wedding plans. I just decided to not have the wedding until the baby was born. That's the only plan I made. That and the vintage cake topper that Sookie found."

"Cake topper?" Rory asked.

"The man of the cake topper has Luke's butt, so it's perfect. You should have seen Sookie in the diner. I went with her so she could show Luke the cake topper. She's zipping around the diner yelling 'it's your butt Luke!'" Lorelai replied with a laugh.

Rory laughed, "And how many shades of red did Luke turn?"

"Fifteen, maybe seventeen but two of those might have been from Miss Patty when she tried to pinch his butt." Lorelai narrowed her eyes, "I had to warn her to stay away from my man."

"It's Miss Patty, do you really think she's going to listen?" Rory asked.

Lorelai laughed heartily, "Not at all." She sighed as her laughter dissipated, "So when you are going to do all the things you need to do today?"

"I guess I should go ahead and get started on everything," Rory said as she pushed herself up from the couch and strode across the living room towards her bedroom. Lorelai got up and followed Rory as she continued talking. "I think I'll go ahead and go to grandma's to get my things. I can make calls to Yale on the way and while I'm packing up everything."

Lorelai leaned in the doorway of her daughter's room and watched as she gathered her purse and cell-phone before looking for her keys. Lorelai spotted them on the dresser, she picked them up and dangled them from her finger, "Here you go."

Rory grabbed the keys from her mother, "Thanks."

"Need me to go with you to help pack up your things? I really don't mind," Lorelai replied.

"I think I'll just go by myself, it might be easier," Rory replied.

"Okay if you're sure," Lorelai said, "Besides I actually have laundry that needs to be done today or at least really soon," she smiled at Rory, "Unless..."

"Oh no, you're doing your own laundry. I have other things to do."

Lorelai stuck her tongue out at her daughter, "Fine. I'll just do my own laundry," she pushed away from the doorway and walked through the kitchen. "You better come back. You better not get to Hartford and then call me telling me that you decided to stay. If you do that, I will drive there and drag you home."

"I'm coming back." Rory promised, "I'll be back soon."

"Bye hun," Lorelai called back.

* * *

Lorelai gathered the last of the clothes out of the dryer and plopped them into the laundry basket. She wandered through the kitchen and living room with the laundry basket in hand. She turned her head when she heard the door open.

"Rory?" she called.

"Not Rory, Luke," Luke replied walking into the living room. "Where's Rory?"

Lorelai started to climb the stairs as she replied to Luke, "She went back to my parents to get things out of the pool-house, she should be coming home soon."

Luke followed behind Lorelai as she walked down the hall and into the bedroom. She sat the laundry basket down and began sorting through the clothes.

"I asked her if she wanted my help," Lorelai said as she started to fold clothes, "But she chose to go alone. She is also calling people up at Yale to see about going back to school when school starts back in a couple of weeks."

"That's great," Luke replied beginning to help Lorelai fold the clothes and put them away.

Lorelai sighed, "It is, it really is. I'm happy that she's making the decision to go back to school and not let what that asshole Mitchum said ruin her dreams of being a journalist. How dare he say that she doesn't have it? She totally has it, her work is great. He doesn't have it. He's just like all the other people my parents associate with. So is that Logan kid."

Luke grabbed the shirt out of her hand before she ripped it as she ranted on. His hands ran up and down her arms slowly in an attempt to calm her down. "You're right that guy's an ass and I could hurt him for the way he hurt Rory, but she's back on track, she's going back to school and she's back home. Apparently what he said didn't have too much of an effect."

Lorelai nodded slowly, "I know...I just...grrr," she growled, "I don't like that guy."

"Well that doesn't matter now. All that matters is that Rory's back and you two are on good terms again," Luke replied gently.

"Yeah," Lorelai sighed, he was right. She was reunited with her daughter and that's what mattered at this moment not Mitchum Huntzberger or his stupid comments as she thought they were.

Lorelai leaned in closer to Luke, her hands clasped behind his neck as she smiled up at him, "Thank you."

"For what?" Luke asked.

"For being you," Lorelai replied. "I just..." she sighed, "I don't know if I said that recently." Her tone was soft and sincere as she continued on. "You've just been so great through all of this. I feel like I haven't been as appreciative as I should have or at least that you don't know how much you being there has meant to me. Because it has meant a lot to me and I don't know if I could ever really explain that, so I just wanted you to know that I really am thankful so just...thank you."

Luke's hands traveled from where they rested on her hips to around her waist as he held her close while she spoke. "You're welcome. But you really don't have to say thank you, I know that you mean it."

"I needed to say it," Lorelai replied She smiled coyly up at Luke. "I can think of one way to say thank you."

"And what would that be?"

Lorelai stretched up, their lips were just a breath apart, "I can show you better than I can tell you," she whispered before their lips connected. Her hands knocked off his baseball cap as her fingers ran through his hair. A moan escaped her lips as Luke deepened the kiss pulling her impossibly closer.

Lorelai pulled away with a wide grin on her face, "Told you I was thankful."

Luke chuckled, "I see that."

They stood there in one another's embrace until the sound of a door could be heard opening downstairs followed by Rory calling out for Lorelai.

"Be right there," Lorelai called back. "Better get back downstairs."

"What about the laundry?" Luke asked.

Lorelai waved him off as she pulled away from his arms, "I'll finish putting it away later. Are you going to stay over tonight?"

"I might just go back to my apartment, let you and Rory spend more time together," Luke replied.

"Come on," Lorelai urged, "Stay over. We can all watch a movie together tonight." She leaned in closer and played with the buttons on his flannel shirt. "And if you're lucky, I'll show you the other way that I say thank you."

"Tempting," Luke replied placing his hand over Lorelai's, "But I will just stay at my apartment, I have to open tomorrow morning."

Lorelai nodded in understanding, "Okay."

Lorelai and Luke made their way downstairs to find Rory bringing her stuff through the front door and into her bedroom. Luke immediately went out to Rory's car and began helping her bring stuff in while Rory walked into Rory's bedroom and sat down on her bed.

"Want to order pizza tonight and then we can unpack your things?" Lorelai asked looking up as Rory walked back into the room.

"Sure," Rory replied.

"I'll get to ordering it then," Lorelai replied pushing herself up from Rory's bed. "Did you get in contact with anyone at Yale?" she asked walking out of the bedroom and into the kitchen.

"Not yet, I called but no one answered. I call again during the week then they are most likely to answer," Rory replied, "Or I may just take a trip up there next week."

Lorelai popped back up in the doorway of Rory's room holding the telephone, "Everything will work out and you will be back at Yale in time for school to start."

Rory smiled, "I hope so."

* * *

**So will Rory and Lorelai talk about Jess and the role he played in her going back to Yale? Will they once again discuss the Twickham house? Stay tuned to find out!**


	9. Family Values

**Thanks for the feedback! I'm working on updates for my other stories and promise to have those up soon. I just ran into a few problems but all shall be fixed soon.**

* * *

Lorelai sat on the couch flipping through a bridal magazine. After a few minutes, she tossed the magazine across the room and sighed loudly. She was bored. Today was her day off from the Inn so she planned to spend it with Rory just to find out that Rory had community service hours to complete today. When her plan to spend time with Rory fell through, she decided to persuade Luke in letting Lane and Cesar run the diner while they spent the day together. But Luke informed her that he had a wood-working project that he was working on. She knew neither where he was working on said project at or what the project was that he was working. All she knew about the project that Luke said it was somewhat for her and that she would love it. Other than that, he was being secretive. But Lorelai thought with the right persuading, she could definitely find out what he was working on.

Rory had been back in Stars Hollow for a few days now. Lorelai thought that spending time with her daughter lately was just a giant hit and miss. Sunday, Rory had disappeared for a few hours only to come home and inform Lorelai that she had spent time with Jess before he left to go back to Philly. She was still being secretive about just why suddenly she was spending time with Jess but Lorelai was determined to talk to her about it soon. Then the rest of Rory's days recently were filled with community service, she was trying to finish as much as possible before school started back since she successfully made phone calls and was now expected to be at school at the start of the Fall semester where she would room off-campus in an apartment that Paris had found.

As Lorelai started to think of something she could do to alleviate her boredom, she ran her hand over the small curve of her belly. Her baby bump had not yet progressed to the point where it was noticeable under clothes but she felt that it was about to get there. She frowned as she looked around the Crap Shack from her spot on the couch, there was no way her house was big enough for two new additions even with renovations. She had talked with Luke again and promised that once she had time to sit down and talk with Rory, she would bring up the Twickham house and how that was the house they needed. She was sure that Rory would understand and then plans could be set underway for acquiring the Twickham house.

Lorelai got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen. She titled her head to the side when she found Paul Anka sitting in a chair at the table. She continued her trek towards the refrigerator and pulled out the bottle of apple juice she bought earlier. She grabbed a glass from the counter and oh-so carefully poured apple juice into it before putting the bottle back in the refrigerator.

"Don't look at me like that," Lorelai scolded Paul Anka, "Just go ahead and turn your head. You know you don't like to watch people drink."

Paul Anka just continued to stare, looking at her as worried as a dog could look. The same look he had anytime Lorelai tried to drink with him watching, afraid that she was going to choke.

"Fine," Lorelai sighed, "I'll leave the room so I can drink this juice without you watching me," she muttered before exiting the kitchen.

"And just who are you talking to?" Rory asked as she walked in the front door.

"Jeez kid," Lorelai said, clearly startled by Rory's sudden appearance, "You scared me."

"Sorry," Rory apologized. "Were you talking to Paul Anka?"

"Well he was the only person here to talk to," Lorelai reasoned. "I was telling him not to watch me drink if all he's going to do is worry."

"You do realize that he is a dog and not a person, right?" Rory asked now following her mother into the living room where they both sat down on the couch.

Lorelai took a sip of her juice then set the glass down on the coffee table, "Well of course, but he listens to me. So are you home now for a while? Or do you have more community service hours leaving me at home again?"

"No more today. I'm free the rest of the afternoon."

"Great because I'm bored and running out of ways to entertain myself," Lorelai replied.

"You can't go annoy your fiance at the diner?" Rory asked.

Lorelai shook her head, "Nope. He ditched me soon after you left. He's working on some wood-working project that I'm not allowed to see until it's finished. He wants it to be a surprise."

Rory laughed knowing how impatient her mother was about certain things, "And it's killing you that you don't know anything right?"

Lorelai smiled smugly, "Oh I'll get it out of him. I have my ways," she said with a wicked gleam in her eyes.

"Gross," Rory groaned.

Lorelai giggled but quickly regained her composure, "Actually since you're here and you don't have anything else to do, I do have something that I need to talk with you about. Something that is important and will affect our future."

"What's going on?" Rory asked. "Is something wrong? You and Luke are still getting married right?"

"Of course we are, this is sticking, we're getting married. We haven't started plans yet but there's other things that need to be talked about first," Lorelai replied, "And one of those things is what I want to talk to you about now."

"Which is?" Rory asked.

"The matter of where we're going to live," Lorelai replied, she continued in the same breath, "The night that Luke and I were engaged, afterward when we were in bed..."

Rory held her hand up, "Do I need to hear the rest of this story?"

"Nothing dirty, jeez," Lorelai muttered. "Anyways he was talking about how he made some comment about kids earlier but he didn't mean that we had to have kids but of course at the same time I was thinking that I might be pregnant because I still hadn't found out for sure yet. But Luke kept talking about kids which made me think kids would be great, which was great since turns out I was pregnant."

"Are you getting to the point?" Rory asked.

Lorelai nodded, "Yes, and stop interrupting."

"Anyways, he told me that the bought the Twickham house..."

"He bought the Twickham house, did you know that he was buying it?" Rory asked.

"Okay seriously stop interrupting," Lorelai snapped, her tone a little harsher than she meant it. "Sorry, just no more interrupting okay? I swear I'm getting to the point."

Rory nodded, "Okay."

Lorelai sighed deeply continuing on with her explanation, "Anyways like I was saying, he bought the Twickham house but then backed out. We were talking and especially since we found out about the pregnancy, the Twickham house became an option again. But before I made any decision concerning housing, I wanted to talk to you." She paused, "I know this is your home and my home, but we just don't have any room here. Not for you, me, Luke, and two new babies."

"I mean I understand that," Rory said, "I was kind of thinking how you were going to fit two babies in the house but...are you going to sell this house?"

"I don't know," Lorelai replied. "I mean Luke and I have talked about it a little. We talked about holding onto the house and maybe renting it out. Or you could have the house...not that you need a house especially since you have an apartment with Paris that you're going to move into when school starts. Plus having a house in Stars Hollow while you're going to Yale wouldn't make much sense but still we could hold on to it or something. Someone we know and trust may need a house soon."

After a moments silence, Lorelai spoke again, "I know this is our house, but that's it, it's our house. I don't think Luke would ever feel completely at home here. I'm not saying that so you'll agree with me or anything. But I think we," she said gesturing between herself and Rory, "need a new place. We're becoming a bigger family kid." She placed her hand on Rory's shoulder, "We need a place that represents our new family."

"I know what you mean," Rory said focusing her gaze on anything but her mother, "It's our house. I mean even though Luke has been in here before, it was still a little weird running into him in the kitchen this morning. I forgot he stayed over. But you're right, I don't know if he could be that comfortable here. The house is kind of small."

"Very small," Lorelai replied, she smiled over at Rory, "Perfect for you and me though."

"Yeah but it's not just you and me anymore," Rory replied, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Oh babe," Lorelai said wrapping her arm around Rory's shoulder and pulling her daughter close to her, "We'll always be you and me, the Gilmore girls, no one can take that away from us. You're my first best friend. But I'm finally make good on the promise to give you a sibling. And hey, you're getting a two for one deal here, two siblings for the price of one!"

Rory laughed and lifted her head from her mother's shoulder, "Well that's true."

"And it's not like I could give them your room, because that's your room," Lorelai said. "You'll need your own room when you come home on the weekends from Yale and then once you graduate, you'll need your own room to come home to while you're taking a break from conquering the journalistic world." She paused, "Which by the way you are going to do because you're a great journalist, the best."

Rory hugged her mother, "Thank you."

"No problem kid," Lorelai replied.

Rory leaned back onto the couch and gazed around the living room, "So..."

"So what?" Lorelai asked.

"So now the Twickham house will now be the Gilmore/Danes house?" she said as more of a question than she intended to.

Lorelai nodded and sighed deeply, "I guess so. You're fine with that, right?"

Rory nodded back, "Like you said, we're growing as a family. I love this house. But it's unrealistic for everyone. The Twickham house is nice."

"Wow, real mature there Gilmore."

Rory laughed, "What?"

"I just like how well you're taking this, not that I didn't think you would because you're very mature for your age. It's just sometimes when mommies have new babies, the older kid thinks they're getting replaced," Lorelai teased.

"That's usually when the kid is younger. I don't really feel that. You love Luke and he loves you, you're getting your middle with Luke. I love Luke, he's already almost like a father to me. I'm happy for you," Rory said, a melancholy smile on her face. Sure soon, she would kind of be losing her childhood home but it's the start of something new. Like when they moved from the potting shed to an actual house. They were entering a different phase in their life.

Lorelai felt tears begin to run down her cheeks as she hugged Rory tightly once again. "You'll get the first pick of your room at the house and you can pick the color," she said, her voice cracking as she spoke.

"Are you crying?" Rory asked.

Lorelai nodded slowly, "Yeah. But I'm happy, although I think the tears are caused from the pregnancy hormones. I can't control them." She pulled away from the hug and wiped at her eyes, "Freaked Luke out one afternoon when he came home and I was crying over a commercial."

Rory bit her lip to keep from laughing, "What commercial?"

Lorelai shook her head, "No talking about it, it will make me cry again." She took a deep breath, "So I guess I should tell Luke to get the Twickham house back. And soon so we can start repairs."

Rory nodded, "I guess so."

"If everything goes according to plan then soon we'll live in a different house," Lorelai replied. "Wow."

"Yeah, wow," Rory agreed.

* * *

Later that night, after having discussed the Twickham house a little more, Lorelai decided that as soon as Luke came home, she would break the news that the Twickham house was now a-go. Rory was on board with idea of moving into the house to help support the family that she was soon gaining. Lorelai sat in the kitchen watching Luke cook while Rory was in her room calling around about potential job offers.

"So you're still not going to tell me what this wood-working project is that you're working on?" Lorelai asked popping a small piece of carrot into her mouth and looking up at Luke.

Luke turned around and smiled, "Nope."

"Please?" Lorelai asked poking out her bottom lip.

Luke turned around avoiding his fiancee's pouting, "Nope. My lips are sealed."

Lorelai picked up a piece of carrot and through it at Luke's back, "Mean."

Luke chuckled, "Like I told you before it is a surprise."

"Ugh," Lorelai groaned, "You are the most frustrating man."

"And you are impatient, you'll like whatever it is I'm making. I have to keep it a surprise," Luke replied.

Lorelai rolled her eyes, "Fine." She got up from her chair and walked over to the counter, she pressed her hip into the counter, "I have a drawer upstairs full of lingerie that can get you to talk. Just you wait."

"I think I can keep this a surprise."

"We'll see," Lorelai retorted. She huffed, "Fine if you're not going to tell me what you spent all day working on, I'll tell you what I spent today doing."

"Which is?" Luke asked.

Lorelai hopped up onto the counter and crossed her legs, "I talked to Rory. More specifically I talked to Rory about the Twickham house."

"And?"

"She was surprisingly okay with it. I mean she understands that here we don't have room for us three and then two new babies and a dog," Lorelai commented when she spotted Paul Anka walking into the room. "We're all becoming this one big family and that family needs a bigger place. I mean this house is mine and Rory's but the new house will be all of ours. A new beginning, a new phase in life, and the start of our family."

After checking on the roast in the oven, Luke moved to stand in front of Lorelai, he reached up and brushed a strand of hair from her face, "Our middle."

Lorelai smiled brightly, "We're getting married, having babies, we have the dog, we have a Rory, and now all we need our matching jogging suits."

Luke chuckled, "Are you serious about the matching jogging suits?" he asked.

Lorelai shook her head, "Of course not babe, I'll just get us some matching flannel shirts, seems more our style."

"Jeez," Luke grumbled causing Lorelai to laugh.

Lorelai reached out and grabbed Luke's hand as he tried to walk away, pulling him back towards her, "I'm kidding," she paused for a moment, "well maybe. So do you think that you could get the Twickham house back for us?"

Luke nodded, "I can definitely get it back for us. I will get it back for us, don't you worry."

Lorelai smiled up at Luke, she swooned, "My Luke taking care of everything."

Luke placed his hand over her belly, his thumb traced circles over the fabric of her shirt, "I do have to take care of my family," he replied.

Lorelai placed her hand over his that rested on her belly, "Such a good daddy already."

Luke kissed her forehead before moving back to the stove to check on his food, "I'll go talk with Taylor tomorrow about the house and when we get it back, we can go through and see what repairs need to be made or if we want to change anything."

"Willingly talking to Taylor to provide for your fiancee and babies, now that's love," Lorelai joked. "Hopefully Taylor won't give you to hard of a time about getting it back."

Luke shrugged his shoulders, "I can handle Taylor."

"And if he gives you a hard time then he will have to deal with me," Lorelai replied with a nod of her head. "We make a good team."

Luke smiled, "Yes we do."

"Is dinner almost ready?" Lorelai asked.

Luke nodded, "Just a few more minutes."

Lorelai slid down from the counter and walked towards Rory's door, "I'll just tell Rory then." She knocked on Rory's door but did not wait for an invitation before she entered, "Hey kid, dinner's almost ready," she announced before she realized Rory was talking on the phone. She cringed and mouthed, "Sorry."

Rory just signaled that it was fine and that she would just be another minute. She said her goodbyes and Lorelai's ear perked up when she realized that it was Jess that Rory was talking to. Since she did have a few minutes until dinner, Lorelai walked into Rory's room, closed the door, then sank down onto the bed in front of Rory.

"So you were talking to Jess?" Lorelai asked.

Rory nodded, "Yeah, why?"

"I just think that it's awfully strange that you're talking to Jess, more than you usually do or what I assume you usually do lately. It seems like since his recent visit back that something was different between you too. I thought you weren't talking to Jess," Lorelai replied. "And I hear you talking to Jess more than you do Logan, you're still dating Logan right?"

Rory sighed, "Yes, I'm still dating Logan. It's fine if I have friends that are guys even if I do have a boyfriend. You had Luke as a friend all those years no matter who you were dating."

"I'm not saying that you can't have guy friends Rory," Lorelai argued. "Look I don't want to fight over this, it's just," she struggled for the words, "it just seems that whenever Jess comes around that something happens. He's never been good for you, not that Logan is good for you either in my opinion, but still I just..."

"I get it, you don't like Jess," Rory spat back. True, she had been talking with Jess the past few days. At first, she just wanted to make sure that he got to Philly okay. But then for some reason she found herself calling him to tell him that she was going back to Yale, that she was getting an apartment with Paris, and even just calling to complain about community service. It felt familiar talking with him but at the same time, a little different. He was different now but in a grown-up way. He was definitely not the same kid fresh off the bus from New York that her mother detested.

"It's not that Rory," Lorelai said trying not to get worked up, she truly did not want to fight over the issue. "I just don't want to see you screw things up. I mean the beginning of the summer you messed up but you found your way out off all of that, you got back here and back to Yale. You did it all on your own. You know, you have all this confidence again and I just don't want to see you hurt. Jess has hurt you a lot sweetie. I'm your mother, I'm just worried."

"You're judging him over his past actions," Rory replied. "He's a different person now, he's grown up, he's matured. He wrote a book. He wrote a book and it's a really great book, it really is."

"I know he wrote a book, but just because he wrote a book doesn't mean he's changed," Lorelai said, she sighed deeply, "I mean I know he's Luke's nephew, but he's hurt you before and I just don't like that."

"He's also helped me," Rory added in. "When he was in town, before I came back home, we talked twice."

"I thought you only talked to him once. I thought you two had dinner," Lorelai replied.

"We had dinner but we also talked the next morning."

Lorelai interrupted, "Wait did you two...?"

"No, no, no," Rory interjected loudly as she jumped up from the bed. Her sudden outburst caused Luke to knock on the door and ask if everything was alright. Once Lorelai assured him that everything was alright, she looked to Rory for an explanation.

"No, the night we had dinner I left the restaurant and then he came by the next morning with breakfast from Luke's," Rory added in. "I am still with Logan, I wouldn't cheat on him."

"Well that sentence was worded terribly wrong," Lorelai added on. "I didn't mean that I thought you would cheat on Logan with Jess but seriously think before you speak," she teased.

"Anyways through both of our talks Jess helped me to realize that everything that was going on wasn't me."

"Same thing I said," Lorelai said in a sing-song voice.

Rory sat back down on the bed and crossed her legs, "I know but hearing it from Jess was different. Seeing how he has changed his life around made me realize that I screwed everything up. I realized that I was screwing up my dream by saying that I wasn't going back to Yale. I just...hearing it from Jess was different than hearing it from you. Your my mom, you had to say those things."

"I still meant all of it, it doesn't matter if I was your mom," Lorelai replied.

Rory sighed, "I know but I just...I can't explain it. I just know that after talking with Jess is when I made my decision to come back home. He was really the driving force for me going back to Yale and coming back home. That and the fact that I missed you."

Lorelai smiled slightly watching her daughter talk about Jess. He had hurt her so many times and in her eyes still needed to prove himself a little bit that he wasn't the same guy. But hearing how Rory talked about him and how he got her back to Yale made her think that maybe he's changed. Luke told her that he changed. She recognized the look on Rory's face as she talked about Jess, the same look she had when she dated Jess once before. She didn't like this path that Rory was heading down. To her it seemed as if she still had feelings for Jess but she was currently seeing Logan.

"Jess was the one that helped get you back to Yale?" Lorelai asked softly.

Rory nodded, "Pretty much. He just helped me realize that everything I was doing wasn't me and seeing how he changed his life around made me realize that I was currently doing everything to screw my life up."

Lorelai reached out and placed her hand over Rory's knee, "I just have to ask you something. Do you still have feelings for Jess?"

Rory was shocked by the question at first but truthfully she looked forward more to calling him than she did Logan. When she told Jess that she was going back to Yale and that he was the reason, he congratulated her and told her that he was proud of her. When she told Logan, he said that he was happy for her but the conversation was quickly turned towards his latest endeavor as if her decision didn't mean much to him. Honestly, she thought that her feelings for Jess never really went away. She just pushed them down knowing that that road wasn't an option at that time.

Rory looked down at her lap and fidgeted with her hands nervously, "I'm not sure" she admitted.

Lorelai nodded, "Okay."

"Okay?" Rory questioned looking up at her mother.

"I don't know what else to say, so okay," Lorelai replied. She leaned forward and smiled, "Plus I think dinner might be ready and I'm staaaaaaarrrvvviiing."

Rory laughed at her mother's ability to change a conversation around in just a few seconds, "Well let's go see about dinner then."

Lorelai got up from the bed and walked over to the door. She opened the door to reveal Luke who looked like he was about to knock on the door. As Luke stood frozen in place both Lorelai and Rory burst into a fit of giggles.

"I was just about to come get both of you," Luke said over their laughter.

"Well you can put your hand down now," Lorelai replied with a smile, "No need to knock on anything, we're here and we're ready to eat."

Luke gestured towards the table, "It's all on the table."

"I'll get drinks for everyone," Rory volunteered as she made her way to the fridge.

"What were you two talking about?" Luke asked.

Lorelai waved him off, "Just girly things," she replied not willing to delve into the conversation she just had with Rory, some things could be kept between mother and daughter. "Everything's fine, don't worry."

"Oh okay," Luke replied.

The soon-to-be family gathered around the dinner table. Lorelai once again tried to pry information out of Luke about his wood-working project that he was working. She even tried to get Rory to join her side by telling her to put on the Rory face because then he would give away details. But Rory decided to not listen to her mother, she liked to see her mother try to figure out exactly what Luke was up to. The Twickham house was once again discussed. After making sure that Rory was fine with moving and everything, she and Lorelai began to think of all they could do with the house with Luke throwing out ideas every now and then and also telling them that it might take a while before the house could be decorated and painted so they had time to make decisions.

All in all, this family dinner shaped up nicely.

* * *

**Reviews are welcomed!**


	10. Spilling the Beans

**As I was planning this story out and mapping out all the future chapters, I decided to not write April into this story. It goes against what I have said before but with the way I want things to work out, I can't work April in. So we're going to pretend like she doesn't exist.**

* * *

Why Luke thought getting the Twickham house would be an easy issue was beyond him. He knew Taylor all his life and the Taylor-specific way of doing things in the town but he convinced himself that getting the house back would be easy. He was a fool. A damn fool.

Last time he wanted the Twickham house, he had to make a visit to the Town Elders which involved an uncomfortable moment with a towel-clad Kirk who also put in a bid for the house and a bunch of towel-clad elderly man. This time since Taylor was wary that Luke would back out unexpectedly again and give no reason, he saw his opportunity to make Luke jump through hoops. It had been a long two weeks of debating back and forth with Taylor over the house and trying to convince him that he was not going to back out this time.

Luke wasn't happy with the situation in fact he was pissed off but he was willing to do whatever it took to get the house, even if that meant dealing with Taylor way more than he wanted to. When he wasn't dealing with Taylor and his inane requests, he was dealing with a hormonal Lorelai who was angry that Taylor wasn't just giving up the Twickham house and sad over the fact that Rory had packed up everything just a few days ago and was moving into her new apartment since Yale started back next week. Even trying to escape to his sanctuary, as he was calling it, and working on his wood-working project, that he was still managing to keep a secret, was not really calming his nerves. He had reached his boiling point.

Taylor and Kirk were both once again in the diner. Taylor was trying to get Luke to agree to certain terms and conditions in order to get to the house while Kirk was wondering just why he couldn't have the Twickham house, after all he did have the money. Taylor was a tiny mosquito buzzing in his ear and Luke just wanted to slap him away.

"Luke," Taylor started to say as he followed Luke around the diner as he served customers.

Luke set down the hamburger and tuna melt in front of Miss Patty and Babette respectively and turned around to face Taylor. "That's it!" he growled advancing on Taylor until Taylor was forced to sit down on a stool while Luke glowered above him. "I've had it. I want that house. Lorelai wants that house. She is pregnant and hormonal and she will get the house she wants. You will give us that house!" he yelled without realizing the bombshell he dropped during his rant.

Miss Patty looked at Babette, "Did he just say that Lorelai was pregnant?"

Babette nodded, still enraptured by the scene, "I believe he did."

Taylor stuttered, "Lorelai's pregnant?"

Luke's eyes went wide as he realized that he did indeed say that Lorelai was pregnant while yelling at Taylor. Shit. He cursed himself. Lorelai was going to be upset. She had been planning the perfect way to tell the town and he just blew everything. The diner was completely silent as everyone waited for Luke to respond to Taylor.

Diner bells rang out breaking the silence.

Lorelai walked into the strangest scene as she entered the diner. Taylor was sitting on a stool while Luke stood in front of him. Everyone's eyes were glued to the scene and they were strangely quiet as if they were waiting for something to happen. No one even seemed to notice her appearance.

Lorelai cleared her throat, "What's going on guys?"

All at once everyone turned towards Lorelai. She noticed that their eyes seemed to drop towards her midsection which she subconsciously covered. She knew that if they were to look too long then they would definitely notice the bump she was still trying to hide. She wore flowy and noticeably baggier shirts in the recent days. Luke turned around and looked at her apologetically as Babette and Miss Patty both jumped out of their seat and wrapped her in a tight hug.

"You're pregnant!" Babette screeched.

"Tell us it's true dear, are you having a baby?" Miss Patty asked as she pulled back from the hug and looked at Lorelai.

"I...uh..." Lorelai faltered. She shot a glance up at Luke who mouthed 'I'm sorry.'

"It just came out," Luke explained as he walked over to Lorelai. "I just wanted to get the house for you. I'm fed up with Taylor. I'm sorry."

"Luke!" Lorelai snapped upset that her plan to tell the town was not going to play out. Her plan that involved t-shirts with somewhat inappropriate sayings and a skit that she was trying to get Luke to agree to.

"I'm sorry," Luke apologized again as Miss Patty and Babette stepped forward and hugged him even tighter than they hugged Lorelai.

She wanted to be mad, angry, furious even but seeing the townie's excitement and the apologetic look that Luke was still sending her way, made it almost impossible to be mad. She couldn't help but smile as Miss Patty and Babette finally let go of Luke and began chattering away about what the baby would look like; definitely blue eyes, Lorelai's curls, Luke's nose, were just a few things that were thrown out. It was around the time when it was safe to share the news with everyone anyways.

Miss Patty turned back to Lorelai, "And look at you dear, you're glowing! You're not even showing yet."

"Well," Lorelai replied as she ran a hand over her shirt. She placed one hand on top of her bump and her other hand at the bottom stretching the shirt over her baby bump.

"Aw," Babette cooed placing her hand on Lorelai's baby bump, "Oh dear you are glowing, you look beautiful!"

"Congratulations Luke," Kirk said walking up with his arms outstretched as if he was going to give Luke a hug.

Luke shook his head at Kirk, "No. No hugs." Kirk stalked away from Luke with a pout on his face.

"Well someone," Lorelai said shooting a glance at Luke, "Could not keep his big mouth shut but I don't think he announced all of the news. Did you?" she asked.

Luke shook his head, "Not everything."

"What is it?" Miss Patty asked.

Lorelai smiled over at Luke, with a hand still resting on her small baby bump she announced, "Well Stars Hollow will not get one new resident soon but two. We're having twins."

"Twins!" Babette exclaimed.

Miss Patty gasped and placed her hand on Babette's arm, "We finally have the scoop on Eastside Tillie."

With that Miss Patty and Babette tore out the door determined to spread the news around before Eastside Tillie got wind of the latest scoop of gossip to hit the Hollow. Their food lay abandoned on the table which Luke quickly scooped up and carried to the kitchen.

Lane walked over to Lorelai and hugged her, "Congratulations Lorelai. Rory already let the news spill but still congratulations to both of you!"

Lorelai smiled as she pulled away from Lane, "Thank you sweetie."

Lane glanced over at Luke who was walking towards them, "I better get back to work plus it seems like your fiance wants to speak with you." As Luke approached Lane wished him a congratulations before taking off to take care of the customers.

Lorelai smirked at Luke as he stopped in front of her, "You just couldn't keep it in, could you?" she smiled and leaned in closer, "Already such a proud daddy."

"You're not mad?" Luke asked wrapping an arm around her waist.

Lorelai shook her head, "Not this time." She leaned up and kissed Luke quickly. "Now that you spilled the beans are you ready for our doctor's appointment?"

"Yeah, let me just tell Cesar and Lane that we're leaving," Luke said as he disappeared in the kitchen once more.

While she was waiting for Luke, Lorelai walked over to Taylor who in her opinion, still look shell-shocked by Luke's rant and revelation just moments earlier. She stood beside the stood Taylor was sitting on and crossed her arms.

"So Taylor about the Twickham House."

"Well it certainly seems like you two will need the room now," Taylor replied, "Your house is certainly not big enough. You can have the Twickham house."

"What's going on here?" Luke asked walking out of the kitchen and standing next to Lorelai.

"I was just telling Lorelai that since you know need the space then the Twickham house is yours. Since I still have the paperwork from last time, I'll just go ahead and use that. I'll bring that back by here along with the keys to the place," Taylor informed Luke.

Luke wrapped his arm around Lorelai's waist, "Good. And I'm certain that you'll give us no trouble once we start to renovate the place like we want to."

With both Luke and Lorelai glaring at him, Taylor was afraid what would happen if he were to say no. So he had no choice but to agree, "Once the house is yours, it's fully yours. You may do what you want with it. Although I would suggest..."

Luke started to lead Lorelai towards the diner door, "We have to get going," he said looking back at Taylor. "I expect the papers and keys to be in my hands tonight."

Lorelai started laughing and leaned into Luke once they were standing outside in front of the diner. "Look at you taking care of everything for your family."

"That's what I'm supposed to do," Luke replied.

Lorelai smiled, "I know hun. Even if does mean completely spilling the news about the pregnancy. Hmm I never knew you were such a gossip Luke," she teased.

Luke rolled his eyes and opened up the passenger side door of his truck for Lorelai, "Just get in the truck."

* * *

Lorelai laid back on the examination table while Luke grabbed the chair from the corner of the room and placed it near the examination table. As Luke sat down, Lorelai turned her head to look at him. Luke looked up and noticed Lorelai looking at him with a smirk on her face.

"What?" Luke asked.

Lorelai stifled a laugh, "I just still can't believe that you were the one that spilled the news," she shook her head, "I mean I thought I would accidentally say something in the diner before we agreed to tell the town but oh no that was you mister."

Luke sighed, "Are you ever going to let this go?" he asked.

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders, "We'll see, I think I can get some mocking material out of this."

"Jeez," Luke groaned.

"Well just you wait until I tell Rory about your rant in the diner, I'm sure she'll love it," Lorelai replied. She reached over and grabbed Luke's hand, "Hey I was thinking about someone else we need to tell."

"Your parents?" Luke guessed.

Lorelai groaned. She had been in contact with her parents over the past few days mainly sticking to the topic of Rory returning to school. Since she was not under obligation anymore to attend Friday night dinners, she had not been when Rory went recently. She had told them that she would soon return to dinner. Emily made it clear that they were expecting both her and Luke since they were engaged.

"No," Lorelai replied.

"They need to know too," Luke countered.

"I know," Lorelai replied, "I just know that they, mainly Emily, are not going to be happy that we're postponing the wedding until the babies are here. I'm sure that she won't be too thrilled about the pregnancy anyways. After all we're not married."

"Yet. We're not married yet," Luke interjected.

Lorelai smiled, "Yet. But still I have a hard time believing she'll be thrilled about this." After a moment's silence, she added on, "I was thinking that we go to Sniffy's. We could tell Buddy and Maisy, we haven't been there in awhile. So we need to tell them about the engagement and the pregnancy."

Luke nodded, "Okay, we can go there tonight if you want. As long as we tell your parents soon about this. You can't really keep something like this from them. If you go to dinner they are bound to notice one day that you're pregnant."

"I'll tell them next Friday. That will be the first week that Rory is back at Yale so while she dazzles them with her brilliance in her first week at Yale, we can just drop the announcement," Lorelai added on. "Ooh I wonder if Buddy will make that thing that he made last time."

"What thing?" Luke asked.

"You know," Lorelai said, "The thing that he made last time. I forget what it was but it was really good, some type of pasta. Ooh or that chicken dish he made. Hm I really should have eaten before I came, I'm hungry."

Luke chuckled, "We'll leave here and go by Sniffy's. By the time we leave here, it will be around dinner time anyways."

"Then the doctors needs to hurry because I'm starved," Lorelai said. "I mean now that morning sickness has finally subsided, I'm hungry all the time."

"You were hungry all the time before," Luke replied.

"Right but now I'm hungry for three."

Lorelai and Luke stopped talking as Dr. Johnson opened the door and walked into the room. She greeted them while flipping through the clipboard of Lorelai's health information just reviewing the pregnancy so far and notes that were taken by the nurse when Lorelai was first put into the room. She walked over to the ultrasound machine and turned towards Lorelai.

"How are we doing today?" Dr. Johnson asked.

"We're fine," Lorelai answered. "Morning sickness has finally decided to leave. Well at least I hope it's decided to leave. I haven't really had any in the past few days."

"That's typical, this is around the time that morning sickness does start to wean off. You're around thirteen weeks so you should be in the clear as far as morning sickness goes," Dr. Johnson commented.

"Great," Lorelai sighed.

Dr. Johnson flipped on the ultrasound machine and grabbed the blue gel from the counter behind her, "Now let's check and see how your babies are doing today."

Lorelai lifted up her shirt exposing her bump. She folded her shirt up, keeping it out of the way as Dr. Johnson squeezed the blue gel onto her skin. Lorelai shivered slightly when the gel hit her skin, "That's cold."

The doctor placed the ultrasound wand on Lorelai's belly and began to move it around. After a few minutes a black-and-white image popped up onto the screen. Lorelai smiled at the image before turning to Luke who was staring intently at the screen.

Luke felt Lorelai squeeze his hand as they watched the image of their babies on the screen. Of course, he had been there for the last doctor's appointment but still seeing the images on the screen amazed him once again.

Dr. Johnson pointed to the screen, "Here is one baby," she pointed to again to the screen just a little left to the spot she pointed to earlier, "And here's your other baby. I think that one just really wants to hide today. Maybe a little shy."

Lorelai laughed, "Our babies are already playing hide-and-seek." She looked over at Luke, "We may just have our hands full when they're born."

"Yeah we will," Luke agreed.

"It's around the time that it is safe to start telling people," Dr. Johnson said, "Have you told anyone?"

A smirk crossed Lorelai's face, "Well someone," she said casting a glance over at Luke, "Decided to tell the entire town today without telling me."

"It just slipped out," Luke claimed.

Lorelai laughed, "I know, I'm joking. Lighten up babe."

"Okay now I'm just going to press this button and we should be able to hear the babies heartbeats," Dr. Johnson said.

After a few seconds the sounds of gently whooshing filled the room. Tears sprang to Lorelai's eyes as she listened to the soft heartbeat reverberate around the room. She was instantly taken back to this same moment with Rory. The very moment that she made a promise to do whatever it took to make sure her baby girl would have the best life.

Lorelai squeezed Luke's hand once again when she noticed that he had tears in his eyes as well. Seeing the babies on screen was one thing but actually hearing their heartbeats completely overwhelmed Luke. The only time he ever remembered crying in his life was when his mother died and then again when his father died. Hearing his babies heartbeat would be added to the times of when he cried. He looked up to find Lorelai staring at him.

Lorelai smiled when Luke finally looked up at her, "Softie," she whispered. She dropped his hand and did her best to reach up and wipe a tear from his cheek. "I love you."

Luke used the pad of his thumb to wipe a tear away from Lorelai's cheek, he leaned in closer and pressed a kiss to her forehead, "I love you too."

"Well everything looks good," Dr. Johnson announced interrupting the moment between the couple. "Your babies look happy, healthy, and right on track. I'll get you a few pictures from today."

A few minutes later, Dr. Johnson handed over a few ultrasound pictures to Lorelai as well as a tissue in order to clean the gel of her belly. Lorelai handed the pictures over to Luke while she wiped the gel off of her belly.

"Just stop by the desk on your way out and make your next appointment, I'll see you two in a few weeks," Dr. Johnson commented before she exited the room leaving Luke and Lorelai to themselves.

Lorelai pulled her shirt back down and swung her legs over the side of the examination table. She pushed up from the table and stood in front of Luke. She wrapped her arms around Luke and hugged him close to her.

"What?" Luke asked instinctively wrapping his arms around Lorelai.

Lorelai smiled and shook her head as she pulled away, "Nothing. I just felt like a hug." Really, she was touched by his show of emotion earlier but knew Luke really wouldn't want her to bring it up again. It would just be something that shared between the two of them.

Luke just smiled, he reached down and intertwined his fingers with her, "Come on, let's go get you some food."

* * *

When they arrived at Sniffy's, Luke and Lorelai seated themselves. They had only been there a few minutes when Maisy approached them. She stood there with her hands on her hips and looked at Luke.

"What have I told you about seating yourself Lucas?" Maisy asked, mock-scolding him. She then pulled him up and hugged him tightly, "It's nice to see you again. You haven't been by in a while."

"I know, sorry," Luke apologized.

"It's okay dear," Maisy replied. She motioned for Lorelai to stand and hugged her as well, "Good to see you again as well."

Lorelai smiled as she pulled away, "You too Maisy."

"Where's Buddy?" Luke asked. "We have some news that we want to share with the both of you."

As if on cure, Buddy walked up and greeted the couple with hugs just as Maisy had done.

"They have some news that they want to share with us," Maisy informed Buddy.

"What is it Luke?" Buddy asked.

Luke reached down and grabbed Lorelai's hand in his, he ran this thumb over the engagement ring that sat on her finger, "We're engaged," he said proudly earning a bright smile from Lorelai.

"That's wonderful!" Maisy exclaimed, she grabbed Lorelai's left hand and examined the ring, "You have excellent taste in jewelry Luke. This is beautiful."

"That's what I tell him," Lorelai replied.

"This calls for a congratulations," Buddy added in.

"It certainly does. You go get the champagne," Maisy ordered Buddy.

"Actually..." Luke said trying to stop Buddy from walking off but Maisy shooed Buddy away from them.

Maisy interrupted, "I told you before Luke, when you're on a date you drink champagne. Plus tonight we're celebrating your engagement so you are getting champagne."

Lorelai spoke up, "I agree we should celebrate but not with champagne. I know that I, for the next few months, cannot have champagne. There's actually some other news we have." She looked over at Luke and he gave a small nod of his head before Lorelai added on, "We're going to have a baby. Well babies. I'm pregnant with twins."

"Buddy, no champagne," Maisy called over her shoulder. "Is there any other big news for the both of you?"

Luke shook his head, "Nope, that's it."

Maisy stepped forward and hugged Luke, "Congratulations, you're going to make a great dad."

"Thank you," Luke replied.

"Why did I have to cancel the champagne?" Buddy asked as he walked up.

"Lorelai's pregnant," Luke announced, "I'm going to be a dad."

More congratulations were expressed to both Luke and Lorelai as Lorelai filled them in on some of the details of the pregnancy and made promises to make sure the twins would definitely be brought by Sniffy's when they were born in order to meet Maisy and Buddy. After making sure that they were not going to prepare anything that might make Lorelai sick, Maisy and Buddy headed off towards the kitchen.

"See," Lorelai said as she finally sat back down in the booth, "That's exactly the opposite of how my parents are going to react to the news."

"You don't know that," Luke replied.

Lorelai arched an eyebrow, "I've known them all my life. I know how they react towards things like this. They might be happy about having more grandchildren but I don't think they're going to be thrilled about the fact that we're not getting married until after the babies are born." She rolled her eyes, "It's not the proper way of things."

Luke placed his hand over hers comfortingly, "I'll be there with you when you tell them. Things will be okay."

Lorelai nodded, "Yeah maybe."

* * *

**Another chapter done.**

**Next chapter will include a Friday Night dinner.**


	11. Friday Night Fighting

**Thanks for all the feedback you've been sending my way. Now on to another chapter, a dinner with the Gilmores.**

* * *

"Is it too late to call and say that I'm sick?" Lorelai asked she and Luke approached the front door of the Gilmore mansion.

"I would say so since we're here and already in front of the door," Luke replied.

"Ah but you haven't rang the doorbell yet so as far as they know, we're not here. We could just sneak away and they would never know," Lorelai explained.

"Your parents would know. I have no idea but they would know," Luke replied. He glanced up at the front door, "I think this is my least favorite door in the world."

"You're the one that wanted to come here tonight and tell them. I was happy with not telling them right now, but you mister, are the one that suggested we come here tonight," Lorelai replied. She leaned up against Luke and whispered in his ear, "See if we followed what I had in mind for tonight, right now we would be in bed, naked, happy, and satisfied," she pulled away and rang the doorbell, "Instead we're standing here preparing to prove once again to my parents that I'm a disappointment."

Luke pressed a kiss to her temple, "You could never be a disappointment."

"Tell that to them," Lorelai sighed.

Seconds later, a maid that Lorelai couldn't identify opened the door and ushered them in the house. She took their coats, all the while Lorelai fiddled with her dress making sure that the baby bump has hidden from view. It could be hidden if she tried but still Emily Gilmore was the type to pick up on the slightest amount of weight gain which was slightly harder to hide.

Initial greetings were given as Luke and Lorelai entered the room. Emily and Richard sat at the head of the room in their chairs while Lorelai and Luke joined Rory on the couch, with Lorelai sitting between the two. Lorelai kept her purse in her lap just taking an extra effort to hide her baby bump from her mother's prying eyes.

"Drinks?" Richard asked getting up from his chair and walking over to the drink cart, "Lorelai, your mother made up a pitcher of martinis earlier, would you like a martini?"

Lorelai shook her head, "Actually no martinis tonight. I'll just take a club soda."

Emily arched an eyebrow, "A club soda?" she asked knowing that was definitely not her daughter's drink of choice.

Lorelai nodded, "Just a club soda. My stomach's a little unsettled."

"Okay, club soda for Lorelai, what about you Luke? Perhaps a beer?" Richard asked.

"Sounds great Richard," Luke replied.

Emily scanned her daughter's figure, something seemed different about her. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on. "Is that a new dress Lorelai?" she asked.

Lorelai glanced down at her dress quickly then nodded at her mother, "Yes it is new," she replied. She subconsciously pulled her purse closer to her body, "Just figured it was time for something new."

"Here you go," Richard said breaking into the conversation to hand Luke and Lorelai their drinks. After passing the drinks off, he sat down in his chair beside Emily. "Rory was just telling us about her first week back at Yale."

"Yes she was," Emily said. "It seems like Rory had a great first week back at school."

"Really?" Lorelai asked turning to look at Rory, "Because it seems like someone was too busy to call her mother this week."

"Sorry," Rory apologized. "I just was busy with some community service hours that I still need to finish before school gets really busy and I don't want to miss any of the first week of classes. Those are important."

"Ahh it's fine," Lorelai said wrapping her arm around her daughter's shoulders and hugging her close to her, "That's the tough life of a hardened criminal."

"Lorelai!" Emily scolded.

"It's just a joke mom, calm down," Lorelai said reaching for her club soda and taking a sip before setting it down on the table in front of her.

"Well that is certainly nothing to joke about," Emily replied.

"It's fine Grandma," Rory interjected, "I don't mind the jokes, really."

"Still that is nothing to joke about," Emily huffed.

Lorelai leaned into Luke and whispered into his ear, "Yeah, things are going so well already." Luke placed his hand over hers and squeezed it comfortingly.

"What was that Lorelai?" Emily inquired.

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders, "Nothing. I didn't say anything."

"It is rude to whisper in front of other people," Emily scolded her daughter again.

"Yeah Mom," Rory teased, "It is rude to whisper in front of other people. At least tell me what you're whispering about."

"Hush you," Lorelai replied.

"So Luke," Richard interjected before anything else could be said, "How's the diner business?"

"Good, it's good," Luke replied. "There's always hungry people so we keep a good business."

"And Lorelai, how are things at the Inn of yours?" Richard asked.

"Things are good at the Inn as well. Not too much longer and we'll have all the Fall traffic coming through, so we're already booked for the next few weeks since people like to experience Fall in Connecticut," Lorelai replied.

"That's great," Richard replied. "Sounds like you'll be busy."

"That's right," Lorelai nodded.

"Anything else going on? Anything new?" Emily asked. She tightened her smile, "Any wedding plans yet?"

Lorelai shook her head, "Nope. No wedding plans yet."

"Why haven't you made any plans yet? You are going to to through with this engagement, aren't you?" Emily asked bluntly.

Lorelai huffed and tried to not roll her eyes. She placed her hand over Luke's, "Luke and I are getting married, we're just waiting a little while to start planning."

Luke decided to jump in, "I love your daughter and we are getting married. This engagement is going through," he replied. "We're just waiting."

"And why the wait?" Emily asked. She turned towards Lorelai, "If you're so keen on getting married to," she cleared her throat and gave Luke a disapproving glance, "Luke, why are you waiting?"

"You're not going to treat Luke like you are right now," Lorelai replied. "I love Luke and he's a great guy, we're getting married despite what you think of him." She took a deep breath, "But if you want to know the reason why we're waiting it's because I'm pregnant." Blurting it out now seemed like a good option, if she were to wait longer then she knew it might not come out tonight.

"Pregnant?" Emily parroted back. "You're pregnant?"

Lorelai nodded once, "Yes, I'm pregnant, 14 weeks now."

"Well that is certainly big news," Richard proclaimed. "Very big news."

Lorelai opened her purse and began digging through it looking for the sonogram picture. When she finally found it, she pulled it out of her purse and set her purse on the ground, "I have a sonogram picture if you would like to see."

"May I see it?" Richard asked.

"Of course Dad," Lorelai got up from the couch and walked over to her father's chair. She stood beside him and handed him the picture. "We're actually having twins. One is here and one is here," she said pointing out the two babies. "One baby was trying to hide behind the other at the last appointment so it's not the best picture."

"Twins," Richard replied. "That's something else. I would have preferred the two of you be married before starting a family but at least you're getting married. You're both adults here and it seems that you two are really committed to one another. This calls for a congratulations." He stood up and wrapped his arms around Lorelai in a tight fatherly hug, "Congratulations Lorelai," he said handing Lorelai back the picture.

Lorelai smiled, not expecting her father to be so open to the news, "Thank you Dad." While Richard went to congratulate Luke, she turned towards her mother who was being uncharacteristically quiet about the news. "Mom, would you like to see?"

Emily cleared the throat avoiding Lorelai's gaze. Richard was being so cavalier about the pregnancy but that's not exactly how she felt. People were supposed to get married before they got pregnant, that's they way she was raised. She and Richard were married before they had Lorelai, it's just the way the world works.

"I should go see about dinner," Emily gave as her response before getting up out of her chair and heading towards the dining room.

Lorelai sighed as she watched her mother leave the room. She expected a big blow-up with Emily yelling at her that she screwed up again and she should be married before having kids. Instead her mother was quiet which may actually be more terrifying than her being truly upset.

"What was that?" Rory asked her mother as she set back down.

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders, "I have no idea."

Luke leaned over and whispered in Lorelai's ear, "You okay?"

Lorelai nodded, "I'm fine hun."

* * *

Minutes later, Emily re-entered and announced that dinner was served. Lorelai couldn't help but notice that her mother seemed to avoid looking at her when she announced that dinner was ready and how, once dinner started, Emily talked to everyone but Lorelai and Luke.

Emily and Richard carried on conversations with Rory about school. When Lorelai would interject asking Rory a question, Richard would respond and chat with Lorelai but Emily was still being quiet unless it came to Rory. This continued on through the first course and through part of the second course.

"So," Lorelai said cutting into a piece of chicken that sat on her plate, "We actually have a little more news."

"More news?" Richard asked, "What else could there be?" he asked with a slight chuckle.

"Luke and I bought a house," Lorelai informed her father. She looked over at her mother who seemed to have no reaction to the news. "We thought that we needed the extra room, you know? With the pregnancy and then finding out that we're having twins, mine and Rory's house was just not big enough."

Emily sipped at her wine acting as if she didn't hear Lorelai. Lorelai almost wished she would blow up and say something to her. Her mother's quiet nature tonight was really unnerving her.

"Have you started anything on the house yet?" Rory asked.

Lorelai turned away from her mother to look at Rory, she shook her head, "Not yet," she turned to Luke, "But you did say that we could start renovations soon right?"

Luke nodded, "Within the next week we can start renovating, we still need to go through and see what needs changing," he looked over at Rory, "And you can pick out which room you want."

"This house," Richard said, "Where is it?"

"Still in Stars Hollow," Lorelai answered. "The man who lived there died a while back and then the house was turned into a museum for just a little while but Luke wanted the house for us."

"I loved this house growing up," Luke explained, "Then with Lorelai, I could see us living there and raising our own family there."

Lorelai smiled at Luke, "Plus it has plenty of room for two new babies and for Rory to have her own little space."

Rory nodded and looked at her grandfather, "It is a big house."

"Sounds like you two have everything planned out," Richard replied.

Lorelai nodded, "We do, or we're getting there at least."

Emily watched as Richard, Lorelai, Rory, and Luke all talked about the new house and their plans for renovations. The pregnancy news still wasn't sitting well with her. They should have been married first before moving on to kids. Richard was acting as if this was the most normal thing in the world. Acting as if their friends wouldn't think anything of this. All their friends kids were married before they went about having kids. Lorelai wasn't that way though.

Emily cleared her throat, "I need to go check on something in the kitchen," she said as she pushed her plate away from her and stood up from her chair. She quickly strode out of the dining room and into the kitchen.

Lorelai, completely confused by her mother's actions this evening, pushed her plate away from her and stood up as well, "I'll be right back."

Lorelai walked into the kitchen to find Emily fussing with one of the maids over the dessert. After a few seconds, Emily turned to find Lorelai standing in front of the kitchen door staring at her.

"What are you doing in here Lorelai?" Emily asked.

"Is this how it's going to be every time I come over from dinner now that I announced I'm pregnant?" Lorelai questioned.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Emily replied.

Lorelai scoffed, "You don't know what I'm talking about? I told you that I was pregnant and that we're holding off the wedding because of that, and normally you would have a reaction, but tonight, poof nothing happened. You haven't even spoken to me since I told you."

"I have spoken to you."

"Telling the entire group of people that dinner is ready is not talking to me." Lorelai sighed, "Then I go on about the house Luke and I bought and still nothing. Dad is joining in on the conversation. You have barely even looked at me." She gestured towards her mother, "See you're not even looking at me now."

Emily made it a point to look at Lorelai, "I'm looking at you."

"You didn't even want to see the sonogram picture of your grandchildren," Lorelai replied. "What is it that much of a disappointment to you that I'm pregnant again before I'm married that you don't even care to look at a sonogram picture?"

"Couples should be married before they have kids, it is the way things works," Emily replied sharply. "You and Luke aren't married."

"Yet," Lorelai added on, "We're not married yet."

"Well how am I supposed to know that this time you're actually going to get married? You've been engaged before but there was never a wedding and Luke was married before right?" Emily asked harshly. "That's not exactly the picture of you two getting married."

"Damn it," Lorelai cursed. "You can't let anything go can you? This time, this is working. I love Luke and we are getting married. You know I was expecting this fight to go down, for you to tell me that I'm a disappointment because we're not doing things your way. But on some level, some fantasy level I guess, I thought that you might be happy about having more grandchildren."

"I am happy Lorelai," Emily replied bluntly.

Lorelai scoffed, "You could have fooled me. I don't know what I can do to make you happy but, and now I'm just taking a stab in the dark here, but I'm guessing it's nothing. I know this isn't done your way, but I'm not you. I'm happy about this, Luke and Rory are happy about this, everyone else we know is happy about this, but then there's you where all you can say about the situation is that Luke and I aren't married before having kids. God, even Dad is happy about this. He at least looked at the sonogram picture."

"Well that is the traditional way of things. You get married and then you have kids," Emily replied. "That is what most people do. It is what your father and I did."

"Well I'm not you," Lorelai argued. "I have never been you. I'm my own person. I own a successful Inn, I'm engaged to a man I love, I just recently bought a house for my new family, and I'm pregnant on top of all of that. I'm doing great but damn it," Lorelai yelled angrily as she slapped the counter-top. "It's still not enough for you."

The two Gilmore women stood there staring at one another. Lorelai blinked back a few tears that she felt coming on and silently cursed the pregnancy hormones that she knew were the source of the tears. Finally she spoke again.

"I try and I try and you're never happy for me. You've never been happy for me. I can't change the way things happen nor do I want to. And if you can't accept that this is the way things are and they are not going to change then that's your problem, not mine." She spun around on her heel and headed back towards the kitchen door, "See you when the twins are born."

Lorelai stalked out of the kitchen and headed back into the dining room. She quickly wiped at a tear that rolled down her cheek. She stopped beside her chair and looked up at her daughter.

"Are you going back to Yale tonight?" Lorelai asked.

Rory shook her head, "I was planning on coming home."

"Okay, that's fine. I'll see you at home kid." Lorelai looked down at Luke and nodded her head towards the door, "Come on, let's go."

"Lorelai..."

"Let's go Luke," Lorelai snapped. She took a few deep breaths before looking up at her father, "Thank you for the congratulations earlier but I don't think I can stay for dessert. I'll just see you some other time Dad."

"I understand Lorelai," Richard replied.

"Thanks for dinner tonight," Luke said directing his comment towards Richard as he watched Lorelai stomp out of the dining room. "I guess we're leaving," he said before following after Lorelai.

By the time he decided to follow Lorelai, she had already grabbed her purse and both their coats and was out the door already heading to his truck. He called her name a few times but she continued on to the truck, opening up the passenger side door and climbing it in before slamming it shut.

Luke sighed and climbed into the driver's side of the truck. Before he started it up, he turned towards Lorelai, "Are you okay?"

"Just drive," Lorelai demanded.

"What happened?" Luke questioned. He heard a little of the yelling match and knew very well of the relationship between Lorelai and her mother but he still wanted her to talk about exactly what happened.

"Damn it Luke, just drive or let me drive home," Lorelai snapped.

Luke started up the truck and drove out of the Gilmore's driveway without another word said between him and Lorelai. The ride back to Stars Hollow was silent. Lorelai sat staring at the window, swiping at a stray tear every now and then. Besides her occasional sniffles, she was quiet. Luke decided to give her some space, not speaking another word to her while he drove.

* * *

As soon as they arrived home, Lorelai headed upstairs while Luke followed after her. She was still quiet as she moved around the bedroom and changed into sweatpants and a tank top. He picked up her dress that she had thrown on the floor and put it into the laundry basket. Once she was dressed, Lorelai headed out of the room all without saying a word.

"Are you okay?" Luke asked as Lorelai moved around the kitchen pulling leftovers out of the fridge and setting them down on the table.

"Can you hand me a plate?" Lorelai asked, avoiding his question as she opened up the chinese containers.

Luke turned around, grabbed a plate from the cabinet, and held it out towards Lorelai. When she grabbed it, he asked again, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm over it," Lorelai replied dumping food on her plate from different containers before putting it in the microwave and pressing buttons to warm up her food.

Luke sighed, he knew she was avoiding talking about it, she avoided things it was her way, "Lorelai."

"Look," Lorelai said curtly as she turned around to face Luke, "I told you how they were going to react when I told them tonight and that's exactly how Emily reacted. Richard was a bit of a surprise but Emily was not. She didn't approve of my choices once again. So, looks like I was right. Looks like I know my mother. It's fine, like every other dinner where she disapproves of my choices. I won't go back, at least for a little while."

The microwave beeped distracting Lorelai. Luke watched as she turned her back to him and busied herself with the plate of food she grabbed from the microwave. Again she was silent except for a few sniffles every now and then. When she braced her hands on the counter and he could hear more than just sniffles coming from her, Luke walked over to Lorelai and spun her around before wrapping his arms around her.

Tears flowed freely down her face as Luke tried to comfort her. Her head was nuzzled into the crook of his neck as he stroked her hair and whispered softly to her. Luke knew that it was rare for her to break down like this over something her mother said but combining her mother's disapproval with pregnancy hormones really worked against her.

"It's okay," Luke whispered. He pressed a kiss to her temple, "There is nothing wrong with this, with how we're doing things. I wouldn't change it for the world. You're not a disappointment and you never could be. I don't know why she can't see what I see in you."

"She wouldn't even look at the sonogram picture. I mean she'll be a grandmother all over again and she wouldn't even take a peek at the twins sonogram picture," Lorelai replied softly. She made a sniffling sound. "I knew she probably wouldn't be happy but she wouldn't even look at the picture. And for some reason I think that's what really got to me tonight."

"I understand," Luke replied as he began rubbing circles on her back to soothe her. "You wanted her to see it, to see that she is going to be a grandmother to two new babies, you wanted her to be happy about this."

"And boy was that a long-shot," Lorelai noted. She pulled back from Luke and shook her head, "She's never been happy about my choices, I don't know why she would start now."

Luke brought his hand to her face and wiped away her tears with his thumb, "You're an amazing person, the best mother, a great girlfriend..."

Lorelai interrupted, taking a playful swipe at his chest, "Fiancee," she corrected. She practically shoved her left hand into his face showing off the ring, "Ring hence fiancee not girlfriend."

Luke chuckled, "A great fiancee," he corrected. "My point is you're not a disappointment and this," he said placing his hand down onto her baby bump, "This is great, more than great. Emily will come around, eventually. I may not approve of your choice in food," he said earning a smile from Lorelai, "but I like your other choices. You've done so many great things and she'll see that one day."

"Thank you," Lorelai said softly. She leaned up and kissed his cheek, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Luke replied. "Are you okay now?"

Lorelai sighed and nodded, "I'm better. But do not expect me to go back to dinner soon."

"We don't have to go back soon," Luke replied. As much as he wanted Lorelai to have a relationship with her parents, he also didn't want to see her put through the ringer every week and if that meant skipping a few dinners until Lorelai felt like going back then he could do that for her.

"Good," Lorelai replied.

* * *

A little later that night, Lorelai was curled up on the couch watching television when Rory walked through the front door. She hung her coat up on the coat rack before walking into the living room and joining her mother on the couch.

"Are you okay?" Rory asked after heard almost the entire fight between her mother and grandmother and then having dealt with Emily not joining them for dessert once Lorelai left.

Lorelai turned towards her daughter, "I'm okay, Luke really talked me down earlier and just helped to comfort me. I'm better. Hormones are killer tonight and they really worked into that argument with your grandmother, but I'm good now."

Rory nodded, "Speaking of Luke, where is he? Doesn't he stay most nights over here?"

"He does but he's currently out on a cravings run."

"Isn't Doose's already closed?" Rory asked.

"Yep, it's already closed which means he didn't go to Doose's. Unless he broke in, which he wouldn't do. But I really wanted some mint chocolate chip ice cream, pickles and oreos, which we happened to be out of. So he's gone to some store somewhere."

Rory scrunched up her nose, "You're not going to put that all together are you?"

"Not all together but putting all the pickles on the oreos actually sounds really good right now," Lorelai replied. "But the ice cream can be by itself. Or mixed with pickles."

"Pregnant women are weird," Rory replied.

Lorelai laughed, "It grossed Luke out too but I just reminded him that he cannot disappoint his babies. If I'm not happy then the babies aren't happy which in turn will make him not happy. So he didn't have much of a choice but to go buy what I'm craving."

"You're going to drive him crazy with this pregnancy."

"Well maybe he'll finally get on our level," Lorelai replied. She wrapped her arm around Rory and pulled her closer, "Even though you just went back to Yale, I'm glad you're home for the weekend kid."

Rory smiled, "Me too."

* * *

**I didn't fully intend for this chapter to play out this way or for it to be all about a dinner but it just happened to work out that way. Hope you enjoy!**

**As for those wondering about the Rory/Jess storyline, I do plan to have more of that soon. I just have to work through a few things first.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Lorelai rubbed her hand in circles over her baby bump as she sat on a stool in the kitchen of the Inn. In front of her sat a book of paint chips she purchased just a few days ago in order to get started choosing the colors for their new house. Painting was one of the big projects, considering they wanted to re-do most of the rooms in a new color. Rory was in charge of choosing the color for her room.

Luke hired TJ, only because Liz insisted, along with Tom and his crew of men to begin renovations on their house. Lorelai and Luke had agreed to redo their entire bathroom in their bedroom as well as expanding their closet in order to be a walk-in closet, which Lorelai pleaded for. Luke wanted to re-do the kitchen, which Lorelai left completely up to him, besides the paint color, since he would be the one doing all the cooking. There were plenty of other renovations to be done but with the crew Luke hired and Luke's help, Lorelai was assured that the house would be done in plenty of time for them to move and settle in before the arrival of their twins.

"Whatcha got there?" Sookie asked as she appeared beside Lorelai drying her hands on a dish towel.

"Oh just trying to decide on some paint colors," Lorelai replied. "Luke wants to make sure that we can nail down the colors, so I'm supposed to start choosing the colors now that way they will be decided by the time that it is time to paint."

"And how is that coming?" Sookie asked dropping the dish towel onto the counter before moving towards the stove where she started stirring a pot.

Lorelai sighed. "It's coming, I guess. I don't know what colors to paint everything. I told Luke that he needed to help me choose, make this all a compromise since the house is both of ours but he insisted that the colors don't matter too much to him as long as it's not crazy. I'll get him to help me."

Sookie laughed, "Sounds like Jackson when we moved in together. He insisted that he liked my place even though it was girly. Then he got mad when I changed things."

"Probably because you filled the house with dead, stuffed animals. They were way too many taxidermy animals in your house Sookie." Lorelai sighed. "I'm just glad you finally got rid of all of those."

"Well Jackson kept getting scared of the animals and then he had nightmares that they were going to come back to life, so I had to get rid of them," Sookie replied. "I may have went overboard with everything."

Lorelai laughed, "Yeah just a little overboard hun."

"Ooh speaking of overboard," Sookie said excitedly. She grabbed a spoon and dipped it in the pot she was stirring on the stove. "Tell me if I went overboard with the cinnamon in this sauce. I'm trying out a sauce for some apple tarts I'm making."

Lorelai blew on the sauce on the spoon cooling it down a little Sookie shoved it in her mouth. "Mm," she said licking her lips as Sookie pulled the spoon away. "That's delicious, not too much cinnamon at all. It's just perfect."

"So I can put it on the menu with the apple tarts?" Sookie asked already planning her fall dessert menu.

"Of course, it's your menu Sookie," Lorelai replied.

Just then Michel walked into the kitchen and over to Lorelai. "Your mother is on the phone," he informed her.

Lorelai gestured down to the book of paint chips, "Like I told you to tell her if she calls here and you answer, I'm busy."

"You're not busy," Michel replied. "You're talking with Sookie while I'm out there doing all the work, as usual."

Lorelai sighed. "I'll be out there in a minute but I'm not talking to my mom. Go tell her that I'm busy or that I'm out to lunch. Bottom line, I'm not talking to her."

Michel groaned then rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll once again be doing all the work," he uttered before storming out of the kitchen.

"Still not talking to Emily?" Sookie asked.

"Nope."

"How long has it been since you last to talked to her?"

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders, "Two weeks since I told her about the pregnancy," she answered, focusing more of her attention on the paint chips than Sookie for the moment. "She didn't act very interested in the news or even that happy about it, this is all probably a disappointment to her so I'm not talking to her. Plus I just talked to my Dad the other day so he probably talked to her about me so why should I talk to her when my dad probably informs her of everything?"

"Because she's your mom," Sookie answered. "I know your relationship with her isn't great." Lorelai scoffed, Sookie continued on. "But she should still know her grand-kids, it's not like you can keep them from her once they're born."

"I never said I was going to do that," Lorelai replied. "She's the one that didn't even want to look at the sonogram picture, she's the one that said she was happy and didn't seem like she really was, so right now I'm not really interested in talking to her. Rory still goes to dinner with them." She sighed. "It's not like I'll never talk to them again, I just need time away from them again."

Sookie walked over to Lorelai and put her hand on her friend's shoulder, "Are you okay sweetie?"

Lorelai nodded, "I'm fine Sookie." She rested her elbows down on the counter and placed her head in her hands as she looked up at Sookie, "Babies and I are getting hungry though so I'm thinking it's time for lunch."

"You're not going by the diner for lunch today?" Sookie asked.

Lorelai shook her head, "No, not today. Luke's working on the house today with Tom and working on his secret project that he still will not tell me about so he's not at the diner and Cesar's burgers are not as good, so I'm in need of Sookie food today."

Sookie smiled, "So what would you and babies like today?"

"Your magic risotto is on the menu today, right?" Lorelai asked. Sookie nodded. "Good because I'm really feeling that today and so are the babies."

"Magic risotto it is then!"

Sookie moved around the kitchen fixing Lorelai's lunch as well as a small bowl of mixed veggies since she and Luke worked out a deal that when Lorelai ate at the Inn, she would make sure Lorelai was eating healthy, or somewhat healthy for her eating style. Meanwhile, Lorelai flipped through the paint chips determined to at least choose one color of paint for a room by the end of the day.

* * *

Later that night, Lorelai was sitting at home on the couch in her sweatpants and one of Luke's flannel shirts with Paul Anka by her side resting his head in her lap. One hand rested on her baby bump that was practically hidden by the roominess of Luke's flannel shirt while her other hand rested on Paul Anka's head petting him. She looked away from the movie on TV when she noticed Luke walking down the stairs drying his hair with a towel.

His eyes went to Paul Anka lying on the couch next to Lorelai. "I thought we agreed that he wasn't allowed to sleep on the couch."

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders. "What can I say, he likes sleeping on the couch. He likes to cuddle with me now. You know he's weird about the whole baby bump thing and he's kind of protective of me now."

"Crazy dog," Luke muttered as he moved to sit down on the couch next to Lorelai. It took a few minutes of shooing but he finally got Paul Anka to move and sit on top of the coffee table.

"You made my dog move," Lorelai said as she pretended to pout. "Besides he's not crazy, just completely loveable."

Luke leaned back on the couch letting his head drop back onto the back cushions of the couch while his hand rested on Lorelai's thigh. "Well I wanted to sit down and he was taking up all the room."

Lorelai laughed, "My poor Luke is jealous of a dog." She looked over at him as he closed his eyes. "Long day babe?"

Luke nodded, "Plenty of work done on the house today though."

"Yeah?" Lorelai asked. "TJ still driving you crazy?"

"He's trying to control everything, if it wasn't for Liz I would fire him," Luke replied. "No more talk of TJ, I deal with him all day I don't want to talk about him at home."

Lorelai pressed a kiss to his cheek, "Fine no more talk of TJ."

Luke yawned. "How was your day?"

"The usual. I annoyed Michel, he accused me of not working, ignored phone calls from my mother, ate a healthy lunch that Sookie prepared, worked, and I talked with Rory today," Lorelai replied.

"How's Rory?" Luke asked.

"She's good," Lorelai replied. "Busy with homework, schoolwork, and working the last few hours off of her community service of course but other than that, she's good. Although she did tell me today that she and Logan broke up."

Luke sighed. "That's good."

"That's good?" Lorelai questioned.

"I never liked the guy," Luke replied. He shifted down on the couch sinking even more into the cushions as he tried to relax.

"Well I don't like him either but I was afraid that she was going to be upset by the breakup. Well she did the breaking up as far as what I understood and she didn't seem so broken up by the breakup," Lorelai replied unaware that Luke had now fallen asleep beside her. "She just said that she didn't want to be with him, wanted to focus more on school. She also wants to try and get a journalism job soon to help with her future career. Although I think it may have something to do with Jess as well, Logan didn't like the fact that she still talks to him occasionally."

When Luke didn't respond after a few minutes, Lorelai looked over at him. She noticed that he had fallen asleep beside her. She shook his shoulder gently until he started to stir.

"What were you saying about Rory?" Luke asked as he started to doze off again.

Lorelai laughed lightly, "Luke, go to bed."

Luke shook his head and yawned again, "No you were talking about Rory. Go on."

"No babe, you're tired. You've had a long day, go to bed," Lorelai encouraged trying to push him up from the couch. "Go to bed hun. I'll be there in a minute."

Luke groaned and stood up from the couch, he leaned back down and kissed Lorelai on the forehead, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Lorelai replied. "I'll be there in a little while."

She watched as Luke made his way upstairs. Paul Anka climbed back up on the couch beside her now that Luke had vacated his seat. She turned her attention back the movie that she was focused on before Luke came downstairs. Today for them had been pretty much a hit-and-miss. With Luke devoting his time to fixing up the Twickham house with various stops by the diner to make sure Cesar and Lane were handling things appropriately and Lorelai working at the Inn all day, they were never together for more than a few minutes. Sometimes they had days like this but they always made up for it later on.

* * *

After the movie was over and she couldn't find anything else to watch on TV, Lorelai headed upstairs leaving Paul Anka downstairs sleeping on the couch. She walked into the bedroom to find Luke fast asleep on his side of the bed. She smiled at his sleeping figure, she liked watching him sleep. From her dresser, she grabbed the book of paint chips that she deposited there earlier when she got home. She placed them on the bed while she slid off the sweatpants from underneath the flannel shirt she was wearing since she really didn't like sleeping in them. She just liked sleeping in the flannel shirt.

Lorelai climbed in bed and leaned back against the headboard as she once again flipped through the paint chip booklet. She was determined to at least choose the nursery color. During the day she narrowed it down to a few different choices all either yellow or green. Since they did not know the gender, Lorelai decided on a gender neutral color scheme. She wanted to decide on a color before the night was over but she also wanted to Luke's opinion which she wasn't going to get since he was already asleep. Deciding that it wouldn't be the worst idea to wake him up since he could always go right back to sleep after he chose a color and she knew that he would want to be in on the decision, she gently poked at his shoulder trying to wake him up.

"Luke," Lorelai called softly, she poked him in the shoulder trying to awake him from his slumber. She poked him again harder, "Luke, wake up." She bent her head down to whisper in her ear, "Babe, wake up."

"You're one hard person to wake up," Lorelai said as she stared at a still slumbering Luke. He was right when he said that once he was asleep, he was asleep. She smiled and began planting kisses on his neck hoping that would wake him up. She flicked her tongue across his earlobe while running her hand underneath his t-shirt.

"Luke," Lorelai whispered again continuing her ministrations running her nails down his chest. She sucked harder on the skin of his neck just below his earlobe, a spot she knew he loved. She smiled when she felt him begin to stir. "Wake up."

"Lorelai," Luke moaned still half-asleep.

"Luke," Lorelai purred. She scooted down in the bed and pressed herself tight against Luke. She continued nibbling at the sensitive skin of his neck until she felt him wrap an arm around her pulling her even closer to him. She closed her eyes feeling Luke run his hand up her leg and underneath the flannel shirt that she wore as he slowly caressed her skin.

"This isn't what I woke you up for," Lorelai half-moaned when Luke began to caress the skin of her inner thigh slowly making his way up. She gave into his touch for just a few moments, covering his lips with hers as she kissed him passionately, before breaking the kiss and placing her hands on his chest pushing herself up. "Not what I woke you up for."

Luke groaned, "Why did you wake me up?"

Lorelai smirked, "Very good question my dear." She leaned over and grabbed her paint-chip book from the nightstand. She seated herself on her knees next to Luke and dangled the paint chips in front of his face, "This is what I woke you up for."

Luke braced himself on his elbows and blinked in his eyes adjusting to the darkness, "You woke me up when I've been working all day to look at paint chips?"

"Yes..." Lorelai nodded as if it was a sane thing to do, "Anyways, I need you to help me pick out a color for the nursery. I told myself I would pick this color before the end of the day and..." she cast a glance over at the alarm clock on her nightstand that told her it as just a few minutes before midnight, "It's not midnight yet so I need help choosing the color for the nursery at least."

Luke laid his head back down on his pillow and turned away from Lorelai, "I'm going back to sleep."

Lorelai grabbed his shoulder and turned him back towards, "Uh no you're not, you're going to help me pick a color." She swung her leg over him and straddled his waist, pinning him to the bed she leaned down on his chest, "Just real quick then you can go back to sleep, I promise."

He knew that she wouldn't give up, she rarely ever did. He sighed. "Fine, just make it quick."

Lorelai pressed a soft kiss to his lips before sitting up, she leaned over and turned on the bedside lamp on Luke's nightstand. She shuffled through the paint chips, "Yellow or green?"

"What?" Luke asked half-asleep.

"Since we don't know the gender of our babies yet, I thought we could go with yellow or green so just choose yellow or green and it will make everything so much easier for you."

"Yellow," Luke replied sleepily.

Lorelai smiled giddily since she was secretly hoping he would say yellow. "Okay now I have two choices for yellow. This one," she said holding up a shade, "Reminds me of the sun, kind of a bright yellow. But this one," she said holding another shade up to his face until he opened his eyes, "Is more of the cute, little ducky yellow. I can just imagine a cute, fluffy ducky this color. So which color do you want?"

"You can choose the nursery color," Luke said through a yawn.

Lorelai feigned a pout, "But I want your opinion," she leaned down his chest once again, "Your babies want you to help decide the color. So sun or cute ducky? Come on and decide your babies are depending on you."

"You want the duck one, don't you?"

"Yeah but I want your opinion." She propped her chin on his chest and locked eyes with him, "Sun or ducky?"

"The duck one is fine."

"Luke, choose which one you want, don't let me influence you."

Luke sighed, "Choose the duck one Lorelai."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"But are you really sure Luke? Like really, really sure?" Lorelai asked.

"Choose the damn ducks Lorelai," Luke growled.

Lorelai giggled, laying her head down on his chest, she could feel her body vibrating against his as she giggled. When her giggles wore off, she looked Luke in the eyes, "Damn ducks it is then."

Luke yawned again, "Can I go back to sleep now?"

Lorelai smiled and attached her lips to his, she kissed him passionately, a little turned on from his touches earlier, "Well now that you're up," she replied as she began to grind her hips against his slowly, "And you don't have to get up early to open the diner or meet any of your suppliers, I'm thinking we do a little something else."

Luke placed his hand on her lower back and smiled that sleepy smile that she found so sexy, "What are you suggesting?"

Lorelai pushed from his chest as Luke moved her hands over her thighs. She unbuttoned the few buttons that held the flannel shirt together and let it slip from her shoulders. "Unless you're too tired for this, I know you've been working all day."

Luke smiled, wrapping his arm around her waist as he sat up in bed, "Not tired now." He pressed his lips to hers heatedly as her hands made work of trying to remove his t-shirt.

The kiss broke as Lorelai pulled Luke's shirt over his head and tossed it aside. She titled her head to the side as Luke began placing kisses on her neck. "You know, we still have to decide colors for the rest of the house."

"Hush," Luke mumbled against her skin.

Lorelai pulled back from Luke, she draped her arms over his shoulders. A devilish smirk crossed her face as she replied, "Make me."

* * *

**Just a short little chapter. Made a little progress with Rory since I had her breaking up with Logan. Like I said last chapter, Rory and Jess stuff is coming but it will just take a little while longer.**

**Next chapter will have more progress on the Emily front.**

**If you're still enjoying please leave a review.**


	13. Unexpected Encounters

**Thanks for all the great feedback you guys are sending my way. I really do appreciate it and hearing what you think helps to keep me motivated. I'm trying to get better at replying individually to your reviews through messages but I'm really slacking on that. I'll try again this time.**

**I'm glad you enjoyed the paint picking bit and the "choose the damn ducks" it made me smile writing it and re-reading it.**

* * *

"Want to go to Luke's for lunch?" Lorelai asked as she walked out of the kitchen and into the living room where Rory was curled up on the couch reading a book. She glanced at the cover of the book and noticed it was the book that Jess had written. She tilted her head to the side, "You're reading that book again?"

Rory looked at her mother over the top of the book, "Just re-reading. I don't know why Jess is so hard on himself about this book, it's really great."

Lorelai sighed and sat down on the chair opposite of the couch, one hand rested on her baby bump. "I would like to think so since that's what the third time you've read his book?"

"Only the second," Rory replied.

Lorelai waved her off, "Luke's reading it but he's only like halfway through, he said he doesn't really get it. He's not exactly sure what Jess is talking about in the book." She rubbed a small circle on top of her baby bump. "Speaking of Luke, did you hear my lunch question before? Do you want to go to the diner for lunch?"

Rory held up a finger as she turned her attention back to the book in her hands, "One second, I need to get to a stopping point."

Lorelai leaned back in the chair, "Well just hurry up. I'm hungry. Your siblings are hungry. And I'm already cranky when I'm hungry, you don't need to add pregnancy hormones into that."

"This would go a lot faster if you would stop talking," Rory replied.

Lorelai gasped in mock-shock, "So snippy to your favorite mother. Reading makes you mean."

Rory sighed. "Just a little bit more and then we can go. I promise." She looked up at her mother who still had a pout on her face. "I just need to get to a stopping point."

Lorelai groaned. "Fine," she said pushing herself up from the chair. She started to walk towards the kitchen, "Tell me whenever you're ready to go."

Rory watched her mother walk out of the room before she looked back down at her book and continued reading. Ever since Jess came back to Stars Hollow to inform Rory that he wrote a book, they had been in contact. It started off with her calling him and thanking him for stopping by since he encouraged her to go back to Yale. The calls progressed from there, just happening every few days with Rory wanting to talk about Jess' book and give her feedback on the content. The calls fell into them discussing their days and soon they were back to their old banter; something she found comforting after a long day at school and community service.

She hadn't really allowed herself to think about her feelings for Jess. Her breakup with Logan was still fresh, having just been two weeks since the breakup. For now, she and Jess were falling back into their friendship routine and at the moment she was happy to have him back. Feelings could easily be pushed away when they talked on the phone but she knew that as soon as she was to see him again that her feelings would make themselves more prevalent.

Rory placed her bookmark at the beginning of the next chapter and closed the book. The book was placed down on the coffee table before she headed into the kitchen to tell her mother that they could now go to the diner. She found her mother sitting at the coffee table spearing some chicken onto her fork from the open chinese container that sat in front of her.

"I thought we were going to the diner for lunch," Rory said.

"We are," Lorelai said before chucking her fork back down in the chinese food container. She pushed away from the table and threw the carton of food into the trashcan and the fork into the sink. "I told you I was hungry but you had to read so I distracted myself."

"With food," Rory supplied.

"Exactly," Lorelai replied as she gathered her purse and keys. "Being a human incubator is a tiring process and at the moment it is also a process that is making me very hungry."

"Let's go then."

After a failed start with the Jeep which was making weird noises, Lorelai and Rory decided to drive her car to the diner since they planned on going shopping afterward. When they arrived at the diner, Rory snagged a table while Lorelai walked up to the counter to talk to Luke.

Luke spotted Lorelai and Rory as soon as they walked in. He walked to the end of the counter and greeted Lorelai with a kiss as she walked up. "Hey." He placed his hand down on her baby bump. "They doing okay today?"

Lorelai smiled, "We're fine, just starving. Rory took forever getting ready because she was re-reading Jess' book so we had to wait even though I waited with chinese food."

"Is that chinese even still good? It's been in there for days," Luke replied.

"It had like one good day left, still good," Lorelai added on causing Luke to cringe. "Anyways, sometime today I need you to look at the Jeep. I tried to drive it here but when I cranked it up, it made a weird noise and then shut off and wouldn't turn back on."

Luke nodded, "I'll talk a look at it after the lunch rush. But we do need to think about getting a new vehicle of same kind for our family. Your jeep or my truck is not big enough or really even safe enough for two babies."

Lorelai pouted. "I know we need something bigger, my jeep is my baby though."

"I know it is."

Lorelai interjected before he could say anything else. "Let's not talk about the jeep right now, just thinking about getting rid of it or not using it anymore is upsetting me. Let's just focus on you feeding me and your babies and Rory."

At that moment, Lane decided to walk up with an order pad in hand. She turned towards Lorelai. "Just got Rory's order, what can I get you?"

"Oh," Lorelai said unsure to look at Lane or Luke since they were both listening. "Turkey sandwich with fries and pickles."

"Got it!" Lane said cheerily as she finished writing down the order before scooting down to the other end of the counter and handing the order off to Cesar.

Lorelai turned towards Luke, "Any chance of you giving me coffee?"

"Did you already have some at home?"

"Nooo," Lorelai lied.

"Lorelai."

"Fine, yes I had coffee at home. Just bring me a glass of apple juice then," Lorelai said before turning and walking towards the table that Rory claimed.

"What took you so long?" Rory asked as her mother sat down in the chair opposite of her.

"Luke's talking about getting a new car. Which makes sense because my jeep or his truck won't fit two babies so we definitely need something bigger and safer but my jeep is my jeep," Lorelai replied.

"Well maybe you can keep the jeep as well as your new whatever you decide to buy," Rory said. "Although I don't know why you would need the jeep, Luke's truck, and something else, that's three different vehicles."

"Glad to see that Yale education is paying off," Lorelai teased. She thanked Luke as he stopped by with her apple juice and Rory's cup of coffee. "So anything new this week? Sorry I was asleep when you came in last night, long day."

"Well Grandma and Grandpa did make me stay for a while longer than usual after dinner. I had a feeling that they weren't going to let me go home."

"Maybe your grandparents are just trying to make use of the room that Emily set up for you when you were in Chilton."

"Or it's because they miss you at dinner."

"I have talked to my dad and you know my feelings about Emily at the moment," Lorelai said dismissively.

"But Mom..."

"No buts, she doesn't approve of this, of the way that I'm doing things. She acted like she didn't even care, which wouldn't surprise me if she didn't," Lorelai replied sharply.

Rory sighed. She was forever trying to play the peacekeeper between her mother and grandmother. The way her grandmother handled the news of Lorelai's impending new motherhood upset her as well but she was still trying to get them to at least talk to one another again. But they were both very stubborn and sometimes unreasonable women, it would take a miracle.

"You know she cares about you and about her unborn grandchildren. Believe or not, she hasn't really been the same since you stopped coming to dinner and started avoiding all her calls. It's weird. I don't know how to describe it, but she's just not really Grandma. She didn't even care that dinner was a few minutes late last night."

"Well she's the one that reacted the way she did."

"And you're the one not taking her calls, she could be calling to apologize."

Lorelai laughed. "Emily Gilmore doesn't apologize."

"You never know if you don't actually take her calls," Rory replied. "And I think you not taking her calls and the way she handled things is coming between her Grandpa too. They're weird together. He has made it very clear that he didn't like the way she handled things with you and that she needed to make things right soon."

Lorelai scoffed. "Yeah, and she'll do that when Hell freezes over."

Rory shook her head. "I swear you two are both so stubborn."

"Who is stubborn?" Luke asked as he walked up to the table to deliver their plates.

"Mom," Rory answered.

"Well you're not wrong about that," Luke replied.

"Hey, watch it." Lorelai warned taking a playful swipe at Luke. "Be nice to me, I am the mother of your unborn children."

"Well you are very stubborn."

Lorelai popped a fry into her mouth. "Just go take care of your other customers. Mother and daughter are having bonding time now."

"I'll be back by if you need anything," Luke said before walking off to tend to the other customers.

"You know if you want to say that your grandmother and I are stubborn that only means that by association you're calling yourself stubborn," Lorelai replied. "You are my daughter after all."

"But I'm not stubborn."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "We're not having a conversation on if you're stubborn because if you're calling me stubborn then you're calling yourself stubborn. Let's just eat."

"But I'm not stubborn," Rory repeated.

"Oh my god," Lorelai groaned. "I'm just going to ignore that and eat because I'm starving and your siblings are demanding food."

* * *

After lunch and some dessert at the diner, Lorelai and Rory headed to Hartford for a little mother-daughter bonding in the form of shopping. The first few stores visited were mainly for stops for Rory as Lorelai complained about the weight she was gaining and the fact that she wouldn't really be able to buy anything in the store due to the baby bump she was sporting. Even though Rory pointed out that there were indeed shirts she could still buy if she really wanted to.

"Okay," Lorelai started as they walked out of yet another store where Rory managed to find and buy cute clothes while she was left just to look. "This is getting old. I mean there are clothes in there I want, clothes I need, but no they're not my size anymore. I have to wear stupid maternity clothes."

"Well your maternity clothes are cute," Rory replied giving her mother's outfit of the day a second glance. "What you're wearing right now is great."

"It was not that easy finding cute maternity clothes. None of their shirts have funny sayings, only ones were announcing the pregnancy and it's obvious that I'm pregnant now so those shirts are not needed," Lorelai replied.

Rory adjusted the shopping bags in her hand. "Okay fine, no more clothing stores unless they contain maternity clothes or baby clothes, that way you will definitely find something."

"Speaking of baby clothes, let's head to that new baby store they opened up just down the street. I haven't been to it yet and I feel like I'm slacking on the whole buying clothes for the babies thing," Lorelai replied. "They do not have a lot of clothes."

Since Rory's car was parked along the street on their way to the new baby store Lorelai was talking about, Rory stopped off and dropped her bags in the car before continuing their walk down the sidewalk.

"Are you going to dress them the same all the time?" Rory asked. "Or like a variation on the same outfit where everything about the outfit looks the same except for the color? Like one twin would be red and the other can be blue."

"I'm pretty sure Luke will have something to say about it if I dress them to cutesy, especially if they both turn out to be boys." Lorelai replied. "I mean if they are both boys then I might dress them similarly, because what if they look the same? I'll need some way to tell them apart."

"I'm pretty sure you'll be able to tell your own twins apart," Rory replied. "Besides if one is a girl and one is a boy then it's pretty easy to tell them apart."

Lorelai pushed open the door to the baby store and walked inside. "But they could both be girls and then poor Luke would just be surrounded by girls."

"When do you find that out?" Rory asked. "The gender I mean."

"I have an appointment this week," Lorelai answered as she began walking around the store coming to a stop in front of a rack of baby clothes. "And if everything goes right and babies are cooperative then we should be able to find out the sex, I'm far enough along."

"And you'll text me as soon as you find out, right?" Rory asked.

"Of course," Lorelai answered as if not texting her daughter the gender of her siblings was an option. "You'll be the first person I tell."

Rory sorted through the baby clothes picking out a few things and holding them up for her mother's approval or disapproval. "How are renovations on the house coming, have you talked Luke into letting you see what's going on?"

Lorelai shook her head, "He wants me to wait until everything is finished so I can see it all as one piece. He updates me every night on how the renovations are coming along though. I can make the decisions along with him but he still wants me to wait to see everything together."

"So a surprise."

"And I don't really like surprises," Lorelai replied. "Ooh do you think those have those shirts that say something like 'I'm a big brother,' or 'I'm going to be a big brother?' I want to get one for Paul Anka."

Rory laughed. "You're going to dress Paul Anka up?"

"Well he is going to be their big brother. You need to get a shirt announcing that you're going to be a big sister."

"I'll go look for one," Rory said before scurrying off to the other side of the store.

"Look for one for Paul Anka too," Lorelai called after her disturbing a few of the shoppers in the store. She smiled sheepishly and muttered a quick "sorry" before turning her attention back to the rack of clothes in front of her.

Lorelai selected a few outfits, two of each, that were decorated with various farm animals. The outfits were as gender-neutral as she could buy for right now. In the midst of her shopping a shop worker walked up with a basket for her purchases so she wouldn't have to try and carry them all in her hands. She made small talk with the lady until the lady guessed that Lorelai was further along than she actually was giving Lorelai an excuse to end the conversation and walk away.

In a huff, she walked up to Rory. "Okay, I know with twins I'm going to be bigger but I'm not even that big yet, this stupid lady was guessing I was further along than I actually am. I still have a ways to go and she's already calling me fat," she complained.

"You're not fat, you're pregnant," Rory replied.

"I hate that saying, don't ever say that again."

"I just mean that you look great," Rory complimented. "You really do."

Lorelai smiled. "See I knew there was a reason that you were my favorite daughter."

Rory held up both the shirts that she went in search for, one in blue and one in pink. "And I found the shirts that you wanted. What size would you say Paul Anka is?"

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. A medium maybe? He's a dog, it can be a little big, a little roomy, he won't care."

"Then this one will work fine," Rory said as she put the shirts into the basket her mother was carrying.

"Ooh want to know what I have planned that Luke said no to but I'm doing it anyways and just keeping it as a little surprise from him?"

"What's that?"

"I have stolen two of the new flannel shirts that I bought for Luke recently and I'm going to cut them up and turn them into little baby onesies for the twins," Lorelai explained. "That way they can match their daddy. I mean he acts like he doesn't like it but I'm pretty sure he will love the tiny flannels."

"Now all you need are little baseball caps so they will definitely match it."

Lorelai laughed. "Something else for Luke to grumble about but probably secretly love."

Rory nudged her mother with her elbow, "Your mother is here," she said pointing towards the front of the store where Emily had just walked through the door and began searching through baby clothes.

Lorelai looked towards the direction in which Rory was pointing. "Well that most certainly is your grandmother." She huffed again. "What is she doing here?"

"I don't know, picking up clothes or something for her unborn grandchildren," Rory supplied.

"The ones she didn't have even act happy about," Lorelai replied. "What are the chances we can pay and get out of here without her spotting us?"

"She's pretty observant," Rory noted.

"Let's just pay and get the hell out of here," Lorelai said as she turned around and made her way towards the check-out counter. She placed her basket down and smiled at the cashier as she began to unload everything.

"Mom, doesn't this show you that she does care? I mean she is here obviously looking around for things for the babies."

"She could be buying something for one of her friends' daughters in the DAR," Lorelai replied as she watched the cashier ring up her purchases. "I'm not the only pregnant woman in the world."

"I'm pretty sure she's buying something for you," Rory replied as she kept stealing glances at her grandmother. "Look she's picking up clothes and looking like she's going to buy them."

"This isn't her type of store," Lorelai replied as she dug her credit card and handed it off to the cashier.

"Because it's your type of store," Rory replied. "She's here looking at stuff for you and the babies. You know she is, stop denying it."

"Just help me carry the bags and sneak out without your grandmother seeing us."

Rory grabbed two of the bags as the cashier handed them off to her. Lorelai grabbed the remaining two bags and turned around to leave. She decided to take the route that would leave her the furthest away from Emily, that is until she got close to the door where Emily was still standing looking at clothes.

"You can't avoid her forever, she's your mother," Rory whispered following behind her mother.

Lorelai dropped her voice to a whisper as well, "I'm not going to avoid her forever, just for right now."

Well that was her plan at least until Emily happened to look up and spot her daughter and grand-daughter. Her eyes drifted town to the baby bump that was much more prominent that it had been weeks ago when Lorelai announced the pregnancy. She clutched tighter to the little yellow baby onesie in her hand.

"Hello Rory. Nice to see you Lorelai," Emily said.

"Hey Grandma," Rory replied.

Lorelai sighed. "Hi Mom."

"You look well," Emily commented directing it towards her daughter.

"Thank you," Lorelai replied in a clipped tone.

"So um Grandma," Rory said trying to fill the awkward silence. "What are you doing here?"

"I was out shopping and I passed by this place. I figured that I would stop in and look. I do have a daughter that is pregnant after all, which I am happy about." Emily replied. "Even though she's not taking my calls."

Lorelai cleared her throat. "We should go. Luke's cooking dinner tonight so we should probably head home."

Emily took a deep breath. "Lorelai, wait. I want to talk to you."

Lorelai could have sworn that her mother was almost pleading with her to talk. Well as close to pleading that Emily would ever get anyways. But still she turned around and gave the same excuse as before that they really needed to get home for dinner with Luke but with a tiny sliver of hope that they may talk soon. Rory did question her mother on why she shut down her grandmother the way she did but she gave the excuse that she was not yet ready to talk.

* * *

Later that night, Rory was in her room on the phone talking to Jess while Lorelai and Luke laid back on the couch cuddled up together as they watched a movie. Lorelai titled her head to the side as Paul Anka walked into the living room wearing the big brother t-shirt she bought him earlier today. He walked across the room and jumped into the chair, curling up in it before closing his eyes.

Lorelai settled back against Luke. His arm wound around her, his hand coming to rest on her baby bump. "I think he looks very handsome in his shirt. Blue is a great color on him."

"I don't see why you had to buy him that thing anyways," Luke replied in a gruff manner.

"Because, as much as you deny it, he his going to a big brother. He needs a shirt that represents that."

Luke just shook his head choosing to let it go. No need to even think about arguing over something like a dog wearing a t-shirt, not with Lorelai. His hand rubbed slow circles around her baby bump.

Lorelai moved her hand down and placed it on top of his. "I ran into my mother today while shopping."

"Really?" Luke asked.

"She was buying baby stuff or at least looking at baby stuff."

"Did you two talk?"

"She talked some, I didn't talk. She said that she was happy about the pregnancy," Lorelai replied in a whisper.

"Do you think she meant that?"

Lorelai titled her head up to look at Luke, "Are you my therapist now? You're asking all these questions like you are."

"I just want to know about your day," Luke replied. "And maybe your mom is happy about all of this. She should be anyways."

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders as she laid her head back on Luke's shoulder. "I don't know. I'm still not happy with the way she handled everything. She's disappointed and she made that very known."

"I know," Luke said as he pulled Lorelai closer to him. He planted a kiss on top of her head. "Maybe she realizes that and wants to make things right."

"Yeah right."

"You'll never know if you don't talk to her," Luke replied.

"Yeah but..." Lorelai stopped talking when she felt a small thudding against her hand that was placed on her baby bump. "Ooh." She turned to look up at Luke. "Did you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"I felt the babies kick," Lorelai said as she pressed Luke's hand down harder onto her baby bump. "I mean I felt flutterings for a little while now but nothing where I could feel it on the outside, but I just felt that on my hand. Just wait, it might happen again."

After a few minutes and Lorelai moving his hand all around her baby bump, Luke finally felt a small thudding against his hand. It was very subtle, not a strong kick but still he could feel it. He smiled down at Lorelai. "I felt it that time."

"Pretty great isn't it?"

"Amazing."

Lorelai laughed as she felt another small kick. "Okay, now they're just showing off."

"Sounds like someone I know."

"Hey," Lorelai said jabbing him in the side with her elbow.

"Joking," Luke replied. He leaned down and covered her lips with his kissing her softly. "This is amazing though, feeling them move."

Lorelai nodded, "It is pretty amazing. You know what would be really amazing?"

"What?"

"You bringing me the leftover cheesecake that I spotted in the refrigerator earlier," Lorelai prompted.

"You had two pieces after dinner."

"And now I want more. Please?" she asked with the pout she used to get her way. "I'll even let you feed it to me."

"What do I get from that?"

"You get to feed your beautiful fiancee and if you're lucky then later tonight you'll get some added benefits over your own," Lorelai replied with a wink.

Luke sighed. "Be right back."

"Hurry up!" Lorelai called after him.

* * *

**Okay to those wondering about Rory and Jess and when there will be more of them, just be patient. Jess will make is reappearance not in the next chapter but in the one after that. Next chapter will deal more with Emily and finding out the gender of the babies.**

**Reviews are appreciated.**


	14. Genders and Apologies

**Thanks for all the feedback, I really do appreciate it!**

* * *

"You do want to find out the genders of our babies, don't you?" Lorelai asked as Luke drove them towards the doctor's office. "You're not going to go old-school like Jackson did when Sookie had their first baby and didn't want to know until the baby was born, right?"

"I want to know. Besides that's the whole reason that they have the technology now and everything so you don't have to wait to find out. The father doesn't have to pace around the waiting room waiting for the doctor to come out and announce what his baby is," Luke replied.

"Wait, you're not going to do that are you?" Lorelai asked.

"What?" Luke asked casting a quick glance Lorelai's way before turning his eyes back towards the road.

"Pace around the waiting room? You're not going to do that, right? You're going to be in the delivery room with me, right?" Lorelai inquired. "I understand your dislike of hospitals and all..."

Luke interrupted. He took one hand of the steering wheel and grabbed hers squeezing it reassuringly, "Of course I'm going to be in the delivery room with you. I didn't mean it like that...I just meant...I want to find out what we're having. I'm not Jackson. I would like to know before they are born."

A bright smile crossed Lorelai's face. "Great because I was going to find out whether or not you wanted to find out. This way I don't have keep this a secret from you. You can both spread the news throughout the town...unless you want to blow up at Taylor again and just blurt out the news to everyone."

Luke chuckled. "You're not going to let that go, are you?"

"I'm pretty sure that I can still mock you on that for a little bit," Lorelai replied. "It's not very often that I get new material to mock you on. My flannel and Star Trek jokes just don't have much fuel lately."

"Jeez," Luke mumbled pulling his hand back from Lorelai and gripping the steering wheel with both hands again.

"Relax babe," Lorelai replied. "So boy or girl? I mean there is the chance that we will have both a boy and a girl but we could also have two boys or two girls. So would you prefer a boy or a girl?"

"It doesn't matter to me. Having two boys is fine or having two girls is fine or having both is fine," Luke replied. "It really doesn't matter to me."

Lorelai smiled, she placed her hand on her baby bump. "Yeah, I agree. Although most fathers want a little boy. Someone to teach all their manly things to, someone that they can take fishing, or play catch with, someone that can go camping and not require the use of indoor facilities."

"So if we went to a campground that had indoor facilities, you would go camping with me?"

"Well I'm not going to pee in the woods," Lorelai stated matter-of-factly causing Luke to laugh. "I mean we're going to be a family soon and it could be our little family thing, a vacation for us once the twins are old enough for camping."

"Why the sudden interest in camping?"

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders dismissively. "Camping and all that outdoorsy stuff is what you like to do. We always do things I want to do, like hanging out with Sookie and Jackson or all the town events or shopping but I don't think we do much that you really want to do."

"You know I like doing all that stuff with you though, right?" Luke asked.

Lorelai nodded, "I know babe. I want you to do whatever you want to do with me. I know that sounded dirty, and dirty things count, but I didn't mean the dirty things. And if doing things that you want to do mean camping or fishing, which I'm still not too sold on but give me time, then I want to do that with you."

"Well I do still have my family's cabin, I haven't been there in a while, but I could always spruce it up for us. For our family."

"That would be nice."

"Yeah," Luke agreed.

The ride to the doctor's office continued on silently. As Luke pulled into the parking lot and parked in a parking spot close to the door, he shut off the truck and turned towards Lorelai.

"You know we don't have to have a boy for me to do all those things with our kid," Luke said. "I could just as easily teach a little girl to fish and play catch."

Lorelai arched an eyebrow, "Unless she takes after her mother. She might not be interested in those things at first, or juts have no athletic ability whatsoever.

Luke nodded, "That's true."

"But you do know that if we have a little girl she will have you wrapped around her teeny-tiny finger from the moment she is born," Lorelai replied. "You'll be a goner."

Luke's smile confirmed her belief that he would be a complete goner around their little girl if they were to have one."Having boys would be great too though, I've never raised a little boy before."

"Well I've never raised a kid at all."

Lorelai reached over and squeezed his hand comfortingly. "You were great with Rory, I know she was older but you did have a hand in raising her in a way. You'll be an amazing dad, no doubt about that." She paused, "Now let's go find out about our babies."

After a short wait in the waiting room but a longer wait in the examination room, the doctor finally entered the room with clipboard in hand. After a series of preliminary questions and a general checkup to make sure that mommy and babies were all perfectly healthy, Dr. Johnson wheeled the ultrasound machine closer to the table and switched it on.

"So just to clarify, you two do want to find out the gender today?" Dr. Johnson asked while Lorelai went about raising her shirt to expose her baby bump.

Lorelai nodded. "Right, we do want to find out the gender."

Dr. Johnson squirted the gel onto Lorelai's belly and placed the ultrasound wand down onto the exposed skin. "Let's find out then."

After a few minutes, the whooshing sound of two heartbeats filled the room. "Well we have two very strong heartbeats, that's a very good sign." She moved the wand to the side of Lorelai's belly. "Okay, one last time are you sure you want to know? Some parents say they do and then they back out."

Lorelai looked over at Luke who just nodded. She turned back to Dr. Johnson and smiled, "We want to know."

Dr. Johnson nodded, "Okay, well Baby A is a boy, congratulations."

Lorelai looked up at Luke who had a big smile across his face. She smiled back before turning to look back at the screen, "And what about Baby B? Are we in for two boys?"

"I wouldn't say that," Dr. Johnson said as she moved the wand around. "Because it looks like Baby B is a girl."

"And that makes the twins fraternal twins, right?" Lorelai asked.

"Right," Dr. Johnson nodded. "It was never brought up before but they are fraternal twins."

Lorelai looked back up at Luke when she felt him squeeze her hand. She squeezed his hand back. "A boy and a girl, absolutely perfect."

"Yeah it is," Luke agreed.

"I'll get a few pictures printed for you guys and then you can be on your way," Dr. Johnson said.

After the pictures were printed and handed off to the expectant parents, Dr. Johnson left the room leaving Luke and Lorelai alone for a few minutes. Lorelai cleaned the remaining gel off her belly before pulling her shirt down. She swung her legs over the side of the table, grabbed Luke's hand and pulled him close to her.

"So you're happy?" Lorelai asked.

"Of course I'm happy," Luke replied. "A boy and a girl, this is great." He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips while his hand laid across her baby bump. "Absolutely great."

Lorelai smiled, "Alright. Now hand me my purse, I have to text Rory."

Luke picked her purse up from the floor and passed it off to her. She immediately pulled out her cell-phone and typed out a quick text message to Rory knowing that she was currently in class and that Rory would most likely call once she received the message. Lorelai slipped her phone back into her purse and pushed off the exam table.

"Alright, I'm ready now," Lorelai said.

"Let's go," Luke replied.

* * *

After finding out the news that Rory was excited about the idea of a little brother and a little sister, Lorelai decided to find a creative way to tell the town. However after two days of trying to drop subtle hints no one, besides Sookie and Michel, knew the gender of the babies. Then came along a failed attempt to tell the town the gender of the babies through wearing a pink and a blue ribbon, which coincidentally caused the town to think the couple broke up again and everyone scrambled to choose sides. So instead of trying to drop hints or proclaim the announcement through ribbons, Lorelai decided to just tell the town at a town meeting. The news was received with joy and the announcement that the town had a running poll on the babies genders. Turns out Miss Patty and Babette knew along that Luke and Lorelai were going to have both a boy and a girl.

After another Friday Night dinner without Lorelai or Luke in attendance, Emily decided to take matters into her own hands. She had let it be known the day she ran into Lorelai and Rory while shopping that she was happy about the pregnancy and that she wanted to talk to her daughter, she was going to apologize, but was once again blown off. Richard was encouraging her to do whatever it took to make things right with Lorelai. He told Emily that her actions at that eventful Friday Night dinner could lead to Lorelai keeping the children out of her life, something he feared even though he still kept in contact with Lorelai.

Wanting to make things right led Emily to driving to Stars Hollow and parking in Lorelai's driveway. Emily stepped out of her car making sure to grab a few bags from the backseat of her car before making her way across the front yard and up to the door. Even if the talk didn't quite go like she wanted it to, she could still leave Lorelai with a few things that she picked up for her grandchildren. She knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. She heard a dog bark and her daughter shout for Luke to get the door before the man himself appeared at the door.

"Emily," Luke said surprised.

"Hello Luke," Emily replied coolly.

Emily heard her daughter before she saw her. "Did you just say Emily? As in Emily my mother?" Suddenly Lorelai appeared by Luke's side. "So you did mean my mother."

"Do you know another Emily?" Emily asked.

"Well no...but um...what are you doing here?" Lorelai questioned, her hand rested on top of her baby bump.

Emily shifted the bags around in her hands. "Well I was out shopping the other day and I picked up a few things for my grandchildren. I decided to bring them by. I also wanted to talk about the last time you came to dinner."

Lorelai looked to Luke who gave her a look she recognized as one saying that she needed to take this opportunity and try to talk to her mother. She sighed. "Come in Mom."

Luke took the gift bags from Emily's hands as well as her coat before she followed Lorelai into the living room. After hanging Emily's coat up on the coat rack before walking into the living room and placing the bags down on the coffee table. Lorelai was seated on the couch while Emily was seated on the chair opposite of the couch.

"Can I get you anything? Something to drink?" Luke asked looking towards Emily.

Emily shook her head, "No, I'm good. Thank you."

Luke nodded. "Okay." He turned around and bent down to talk to Lorelai. "I'm going to head over to the house, there's a few things I can do today by myself since the crew's not there. Just to give you two time to talk."

"Okay," Lorelai replied quietly. She pecked his lips quickly. "See you later."

"Nice to see you again Emily," Luke said before he exited the house.

"Where's Luke going?" Emily asked.

"Over to our house to fix up a few things, he wanted to leave us alone to talk," Lorelai replied. She moved around on the couch making herself more comfortable. Her left hand rested on top of her baby bump, "What did you want to talk about?"

"Rory's not home this weekend?" Emily asked. "I thought she came home most weekends."

"She does but she was too busy this weekend so she stayed at Yale. She has some major assignment due next week so she wanted to stay at Yale in order to stay focused." Lorelai sighed. "I know you didn't come here to talk about Rory, what did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to apologize," Emily said maintaining eye contact with Lorelai, "Apologize about the last dinner that you attended. I was wrong."

Lorelai was taken aback, her mother was never one to apologize. "Apologize about what?"

"Lorelai."

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders, "What? You're the one that wants to apologize. And if you're going to apologize then you have to say exactly what you're sorry for. I remember that lesson from when I was little and had to apologize for everything."

Emily decided to let that comment go, it would only impede the progress that she was trying to make with Lorelai now. "I wanted to apologize for the way I acted last time we spoke," she replied. Before Lorelai could respond Emily continued on, "I was upset at the timing of all of this but I am happy for you."

"You made it pretty clear that this was a disappointment," Lorelai replied.

"And that was wrong. Now I can't admit that I'm thrilled about the idea of you two not getting married until after you give birth, because I do believe you should be married before you have kids, but I know in your situation that's not plausible," Emily said but continued on in the same breath, "I get that you don't want to be pregnant on your wedding day, no bride does."

"I don't even see the big deal with waiting. We're still getting married, we just have a few things to do before then. It's not traditional but I've never done things the traditional way," Lorelai replied.

"No you haven't," Emily said with a shake of her head. "And the way you and Luke are doing things is not traditional. But you are engaged and you will be married. I will be there to support your decisions."

Lorelai leaned back into the couch processing her mother's words. She felt tears pricking at her eyes and silently cursed the pregnancy hormones. Some days she cried so easily. Ever since she could remember, her mother never did anything like this. Her mother never supported any of her decisions. She was always the one to put a stop to anything Lorelai tried to do. But here she was now saying that she was going to support her daughter. Her mother's support was something that she had wanted for a long time. Especially now with the pregnancy, she just wanted to share this with her.

"Mom."

"I still have more to say, let me continue," Emily urged. "I may not be happy about the timing of things but I am happy that you are giving me another grandchild."

"Grandchildren," Lorelai corrected. "There's two."

"Excuse me, grandchildren," Emily corrected herself. "I am really happy about this. I want to be there for these children, I want to be there for you. I want you to let me be there. I want the chance I never had with Rory."

Lorelai nodded silently still trying to process everything.

Emily sniffled. "I'm trying to say I'm sorry for what I've said. I honestly don't think I could handle not being an active part in these kids' lives. I want to see them grow up, I never got the chance with Rory. We only saw both you and her on holidays. I can't do that again. I can't lose you again."

Lorelai made a sniffling sound and quickly wiped at a tear that rolled down her cheek. "I want you and Dad to be there for them."

"Thank you Lorelai."

Lorelai simply nodded in response. She was silent for a few seconds before speaking up, "Luke and I went to the doctor a few days ago, we have another sonogram picture if you would like to see."

Emily smiled, "I would love too."

"Be right back," Lorelai said as she got up from the couch and disappeared into the kitchen. She had insisted on sticking the sonogram picture up on the refrigerator when they got home from the doctor's office. She returned moments later and stood beside the chair her mother was sitting in and held out the picture. "Here you go."

A smile crept across Emily's face as she looked down at the picture of her two grandchildren. Her finger traced over the images of the two babies. She looked up at Lorelai who was leaning on the chair with one hand rubbing a circle on her baby bump.

"Do you know the gender yet?" she asked.

Lorelai nodded, "We were able to find out at our last appointment."

"Well are you going to tell me?" Emily asked. "Or are you and Luke keeping it a secret from everyone? Although I never really understood why couples did that, it makes no sense to me."

"I never understood it either," Lorelai replied. "Well Dad still doesn't know but I guess you can just relay the news back to him. We found out that we are having both a boy and girl."

"Oh another little girl," Emily replied. "Your dad will be thrilled that he'll have a grandson, I am too."

"Me too," Lorelai said with a smile. "Although I don't know anything about raising a little boy."

"Well you knew nothing about raising a baby and Rory turned out amazing," Emily complimented.

"She did, didn't she?" Lorelai asked. "Thank you Mom," she said softly.

Emily handed the sonogram picture back to her daughter, "You're welcome Lorelai."

Lorelai cleared her throat, her eyes went to the shopping bags that we're still sitting on the table then back to her mother. "So are you going to tell me about the bags I brought, do I open them now or what?"

"Always worried about presents," Emily said with a shake of her head. "It's just some clothes for the baby. Babies always need plenty of clothes. I should be going, I didn't let your father know that I was leaving. He's probably looking for me by now."

Lorelai laughed. "Okay then. Thanks for coming by Mom," she said as she led Emily towards the door.

Emily grabbed her coat from the coat rack and slipped it on before she opened the front door. "Will I see you and Luke at dinner next Friday?"

"I guess so," Lorelai replied.

"Very well," Emily said before exiting the house.

Lorelai stood in the doorway watching her mother get into her car and back out of the driveway. Once her mother's car was out of sight, she headed back inside and made her way towards the living room to dig into the bags that her mother bought with her.

* * *

"So she apologized?" Luke asked later that night as they lay in bed.

Lorelai nodded, "She apologized. You know what this means right?"

"What?" Luke asked.

"Hell has officially frozen over," Lorelai replied. "It's all just ice, no fire."

Luke chuckled. "You're insane."

"Well that would explain everything," Lorelai said. She took a deep breath. "No, she just said that she didn't want to miss out on these kids growing up like she did with Rory. She didn't want to lose me again. I never planned on keeping her completely out of their lives, I was just going to stay out of her life for a little while."

"It's good that she apologized. Their grandparents should be in their life," Luke replied. His voice dropped low. "I know my parents would be happy over the pregnancy, the idea of twins would thrill them."

"Really?" Lorelai asked in a whisper as she scooted closer to Luke.

Luke smiled, "Really. They might not be too happy over the pregnancy first then marriage but then again they would be thrilled over the idea of grandkids. My dad would have already made plans to take the boy fishing once he was old enough and my mom would have probably tried to give both of them cooking lessons."

"Then the Gilmore gene would kick in and cooking would not happen," Lorelai replied. She laid her head down on his chest. "Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"Would your parents have liked me?" Lorelai asked. She propped her head up on his chest to look at him. "Honestly, would they have liked me?"

Luke smiled and pulled her closer. "They would have loved you. I know that for a fact. They would have admired how determined you are and just how great of a mother you are to Rory."

Lorelai smiled and laid her head back down on his chest. "You don't talk about them much but will you tell me a story about them?"

"Yeah," Luke agreed after a few minutes, "I will."

Lorelai laid with her head on Luke's chest as he began recounting memories of his parents. One of his hands ran idly over her baby bump as he spoke. She loved the soft timbre of his voice as he spoke of his mother and cooking lessons he was given at a young age, and as he spoke of helping his father out in his hardware store after school for years. She knew this was a rare moment, Luke talking about his parents. He was usually so closed off but tonight just two stories turned into many more until she was eventually lulled to sleep by the sound of his voice.

* * *

**So next chapter, Jess returns! I know that's what a lot of you have been waiting for. **

**I know it may seem like a cop-out or what everyone else does with twins in stories like these but I wanted them to have a boy but I also wanted to see Luke with a little baby girl just because I think it would be cute. So that's the verdict on the gender.**


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